Crude steel production down

Johannesburg - Crude steel production in South Africa fell 30.5% year-on-year in July to an estimated 600 000 metric tonnes from 864 000 metric tonnes in July last year, the World Steel Association said on Thursday.

Releasing global crude steel production data for July, the association said that production out of South Africa for the first seven months of 2009 was down 25.1% to 3.98 million metric tonnes from 5.31 million metric tonnes in the first seven months of 2008.

African production dropped 19.9% to 1.24 million metric tonnes in July and 21.6% to 8.38 million metric tonnes for the first seven months of the year.

World crude steel production for the 66 countries reporting to the World Steel Association was 103.9 million metric tonnes in July.

While this is 11.1% lower than July 2008 production, it is the highest monthly production figure this year.

Total crude steel production in the 66 reporting countries for the first seven months of 2009 was 653 million metric tonnes, a 19.9% decrease over the same period of 2008.

The largest fall in regional production was seen in North America, where output fell 40.4% year-on-year in July to 6.9 million metric tonnes.

European Union (EU) producers reported the second largest fall of 35.6% to 11.2 million metric tonnes year-on-year in July while the Oceana region, which includes Australia and New Zealand, recorded a 32% drop in production in July to 473 000 metric tonnes.

The US produced 5.0 million metric tonnes of crude steel in July 2009, 41.6% lower than July 2008.

Brazil produced 2.5 million metric tonnes of crude steel in July 2009, a decrease of 22.8% compared to the same month last year.

In the EU, Germany's crude steel production was 2.7 million metric tonnes in July 2009, a decrease of 28.8% from July 2008, while the UK produced 0.8 million metric tonnes in July 2009, down by 30.6% from July 2008.

By comparison, China's crude steel production for July 2009 was 50.7 million metric tonnes, 12.6% higher than July 2008.

This is the first time ever that China has produced over 50 million metric tonnes of crude steel in a month, accounting for almost 50% of world crude steel production.

Since April 2009, the world's and China's crude steel production has shown a steady month on month increase.

Elsewhere in Asia, Japan produced 7.7 million metric tonnes of crude steel in July 2009, down by 24.9% compared to the same month last year.

South Korea showed a decline of 13.3% from July 2008, producing 4.0 million metric tonnes of crude steel in July 2009.

Russia's crude steel production for July 2009 was 5.0 million metric tonnes, a decrease of 18.4% from July 2008, while Ukraine produced 2.7 million metric tonnes of crude steel in July 2009, 27.7% lower than July 2008.

"In July, almost all the major steel-producing countries - including China, Japan, Germany, the US, Brazil, Turkey, Russia and Ukraine - have shown their highest monthly figures so far this year," the association noted.

- I-Net Bridge