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