China, Japan, India account for 64 per cent of world steel production in August
New Delhi: China, Japan and India accounted for almost 64 per cent of the total global steel production of 134.1 million tonnes in August, as per data by World Steel Association. World crude steel output, for the 66 countries reporting to the association, rose by 1.9 per cent to 134.1 MT last month compared to August 2015, WSA said.
China's steel production for August was 68.6 MT, an increase of 3 per cent compared to the year-ago period. Japan produced 8.9 MT steel, up by 1.5 per cent against the year-ago period, while India produced 8.1 MT of steel a growth of 9.4 per cent during the same period. Together the top three steel makers produced 85.6 MT of the metal against the global output of 134.1 MT.
China is the world's largest steel producer followed by Japan and India. Another major steel manufacturer from Asia, South Korea's crude steel production rose by 1.8 per cent in August this year to 5.9 MT against August 2015. Collectively Asia accounted for about 70 per cent of the global steel production last month.
In the European Union, Germany produced 3.5 MT of steel in August 2016, an increase of 2.4 per cent compared to August 2015, while Italy's production was up 7.4 per cent to 1.1 MT during the same period.
Spain's production, however, declined by 11.8 per cent to 1 MT in August 2016 year-on-year. Turkey's crude steel production for August 2016 was 2.9 Mt, up by 12.9 per cent on August 2015.
Last month, Russia produced 5.9 MT of crude steel, which is a decline of 1.9 per cent over August 2015, while output in Ukraine also fell by 4.1 per cent to 1.8 MT in the period under review.
The world's fourth largest steel producer, the US, registered a fall of 3.4 per cent in August 2016 to 6.7 MT compared to same month last year. Brazil's crude steel production also declined by 1.1 per cent to 2.7 MT in August this year compared to the corresponding period last year.
"The crude steel capacity utilisation ratio of the 66 countries in August 2016 was 68.5 per cent. It was 68 per cent in August 2015," WSA said.
