World Steel Production Dropped in January

Double-digit drop for China's steel in January

World crude steel production decreased 7.8 percent year-over-year to 117 million tons in January 2012.

China, the world's largest steel producer, saw crude steel production drop 13 percent to 52.1 million tonnes, the World Steel Association reported.

The United States produced 7.6 million tonnes of crude steel in January 2012, a 5.7 percent increase compared to January 2011.

Elsewhere in Asia, Japan produced 8.6 million tonnes of crude steel in January 2012, a decrease of 10.6 percent compared with the same month last year. South Korea’s production fell 9.6 percent to 5.1 million tonnes.

In Europe, Germany's production fell 8.5 percent to 3.4 million tonnes, but Italy and France produced more crude steel in January 2012 with increases of 4.6 percent and 11.2 percent, respectively. Turkey's crude steel production posted a 14.4 percent gain to 3.1 million tonnes.

Brazil's production remained nearly flat at 2.8 million tonnes.

The world crude steel capacity utilization ratio of the 59 countries reporting to the World Steel Association in January 2012 rebounded slightly to 71.3 percent, 0.5 percentage points higher than December 2011. Compared to January 2011, the utilization ratio in January 2012 decreased by 9.6 percentage points.

Photo courtesy of U.K.'s Cookson Group.