BRUSSELS (Yosefardi) – World crude steel production for 63 countries reporting to the World Steel Association grew 2.6% to 136 million tons last month.
China, the world’s largest producer, contributed 67 million tons or 7.3% above May 2012. Japan, second largest producer, reported 4.3% growth to 9.6 million tons, while South Korea dropped 7.1% to 5.5 million tons.
Other major producing countries reported substantial drop. In Europe, Italy’s output down 11.2%, while France lost 3.5%. Russia grew slightly by 0.2%, but Ukraine down 6.5%.
United States also reported 4.9% fall to 7.5 million tons.
Utilization ratio of steel factories in the 63 countries, however, was nearly flat at 79.6% compared to 80% in April 2013 and 80.5% in May 2012.