Global crude output to September up just 0.6%

World crude steel production for the 62 countries reporting to the World Steel Association (worldsteel) was 124Mt in September 2012, recording no change compared to September 2011.

China’s crude steel production for September 2012 was 58.0 Mt, up by 0.6% compared to September 2011.

Elsewhere in Asia, Japan produced 8.8 Mt of crude steel in September 2012, a decrease of -1.0% compared to the same month last year. South Korea’s crude steel production for September 2012 was 5.6 Mt, up by 1.8% compared to September 2011.

Global crude steel output for the first 9-months 2012 was 1149Mt, an increase of 0.6% compared to the same months of 2011. Asia produced 748.6Mt of crude steel in the first nine months of 2012, an increase of 1.5% compared to the same period of 2011. Of this, China produced 534.5Mt or 71.4% of the total. The EU produced 129.6Mt in the first three quarters of 2012, down by -4.6% compared to the same period of 2011. The CIS produced 84.7Mt in the first nine months of 2012, up by 0.3% compared with the first 9-months 2011. North America’s production in the first nine months of 2012 was 92.8Mt, 3.9% higher than the first nine months of 2011. South America produced 35.1Mt in the first three quarters of 2012, down by -4.7% compared to the same period of 2011.
As a rough guide, finished steel output would be about 10% less than crude steel production.