Crude steel production still low

China’s crude steel production for April 2016 was 69.4 Mt, an increase of 0.5% compared to April 2015. Elsewhere in Asia, Japan produced 8.5 Mt of crude steel in April 2016, an increase of 1.2% compared to April 2015. South Korea’s crude steel production was 5.7 Mt in April 2016, down by -1.3% on April 2015.

In the EU, Germany produced 3.6 Mt of crude steel in April 2016, a decrease of -1.5% compared to April 2015. Italy produced 2.1 Mt of crude steel, up by 14.5% on April 2015. Spain produced 1.2 Mt of crude steel, down by -10.6% compared to April 2015. Turkey’s crude steel production for April 2016 was 2.9 Mt, up by 5.3% on April 2015.

In April 2016, Russia produced 5.9 Mt of crude steel, down by -0.4% over April 2015. Ukraine produced 2.2 Mt of crude steel, up by 11.7% compared to the same month in 2015. The United States produced 6.6 Mt of crude steel in April 2016, an increase of 2.5% compared to April 2015. Brazil’s crude steel production for April 2016 was 2.3 Mt, down by -20.6% on April 2015.

The crude steel capacity utilisation ratio of the 66 countries in April 2016 was 71.5%. This is 1.3 percentage points lower than April 2015. Compared to March 2016, it is 0.8 percentage points higher.