May Global steel production dips marginally to 139 mt

Crude steel capacity utilisation ratio of 66 countries in May 2016 was 71.3 per cent, which is 1 percentage point lower than May 2015. Compared to April 2016, it is 0.1 percentage point lower, WSA said in a statement.

China's crude steel production for May 2016 was 70.5 mt, an increase of 1.8 per cent compared to May 2015. Elsewhere in Asia, Japan produced 8.8 mt of steel in May 2016, a decrease of 0.9 per cent, it added. India's steel production was 8 mt last month, up 4.9 per cent on May 2015, while South Korea's steel production was 5.8 mt in May 2016, down by 3.5 per cent on May 2015. 

In the EU, Germany produced 3.9 mt of steel, an increase of 4 per cent for the month under review, whereas Italy produced 2.2 mt of crude steel in May 2016, which was up by 9.3 per cent on May 2015.

Spain produced 1.3 mt that was down by 10.6 per cent compared to May 2015 and France's production fell by 18.8 per cent to 1.2 mt compared to May 2015. Turkey's crude steel production for May 2016 was 3 mt, up by 5.4% per cent on May 2015, WSA said.

In May 2016, Russia produced 6 mt of crude steel, up by 0.4 per cent over May 2015. Ukraine produced 2.3 mt of crude steel, up by 5.7 per cent compared to the same month in 2015. Steel production in the US fell marginally by 0.4 per cent to 6.8 mt in May 2016. While, Brazil's production for May 2016 was 2.6 mt, a decline by 13.2 per cent on May 2015.