World crude steel production was 410.5 Mt in the first three months of 2017, up by 5.7% compared to the same period in 2016. Asia produced 280.6 Mt of crude steel, an increase of 5.4% over the first quarter of 2016. The EU produced 42.5 Mt of crude steel in the first quarter of 2017, up by 3.8% compared to the same quarter of 2016. North America’s crude steel production in the first three months of 2017 was 29.3 Mt, an increase of 7.1% compared to the first quarter of 2016. The C.I.S. produced 25.9 Mt of crude steel in the first three months of 2017, an increase of 4.0% over the same months of 2016.
China’s crude steel production for March 2017 was 72.0 Mt, an increase of 1.8% compared to March 2016. Japan produced 8.9 Mt of crude steel in March 2017, an increase of 1.8% compared to March 2016.
In the EU, Germany produced 3.9 Mt of crude steel in March 2017, an increase of 1.9% compared to March 2016. Italy produced 2.2 Mt of crude steel, up by 9.5% on March 2016. Spain produced 1.4 Mt of rude steel, up by 15.7% on March 2016. France produced 1.3 Mt of crude steel, up by 18.1% compared to March 2016.
Turkey’s crude steel production for March 2017 was 3.1 Mt, up by 14.0% on March 2016.
The US produced 7.0 Mt of crude steel in March 2017, an increase of 3.4% compared to March 2016.
Brazil’s crude steel production for March 2017 was 2.9 Mt, up by 13.7% on March 2016.
The crude steel capacity utilisation ratio of the 67 countries in March 2017 was 72.7%. This is 2.2 percentage points higher than March 2016. Compared to February 2017, it is 2.0 percentage points higher.