Crude steel production by the 65 countries reporting to the World Steel Association was 125 million mt in February, up by just 0.6% on the same month last year.
Compared with January 2014, February's average daily production of 4.46 million mt was 1.2% higher. This took total production for the first two months of the year to 262 million, mt, a 1.6% increase over the same 2013 period.
In a report Thursday, the association estimated China's February output 0.4% higher at 62.1 million mt: its total production for January-February 2014 was 130.8 million mt with the estimate for January 2014 revised upward to 68.7 million mt. There were also year-on-year increases in Japan, Korea and Taiwan, but Indian output was estimated to have decreased, leaving Asia's total output of 83.7 million mt 0.6% higher.
In the European Union, February output of 13.9 million mt was up 4.7%. Production rose in Germany (by 4.2%), Italy (3.6%), Spain (10.2%) and the UK (16.6%). But there were declines in France (down 3.9%), Slovakia (5.9%) and Austria (1.4%). Elsewhere in Europe, Turkey's production edged 0.7% higher to 2.7 million mt.
February production in the CIS was down 5.1% to 8.2 million mt. A 13.3% increase in Kazakhstan was outweighed by falls in Russia (3.1%), Belarus (26%) and Ukraine (10.7%).
North America's February production of 9.1 million mt was 2.7% lower than the same month last year. The US, Mexico and Canada all reported declines. South American output of 3.4 million mt fell 2.6% as increases in Argentina and Brazil were countered by falls in Venezuela, Colombia and Chile.
The Middle East registered a gain of almost 7%, as February output increased in Iran, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. African output also rose thanks to higher output in South Africa, Egypt, Algeria and Libya.
The crude steel capacity-utilization rate for the 65 countries was 77.6% in February, 2.0 percentage points lower than the same month last year, but up 0.7 points from January.
