Global Crude Steel Production Growth Slows to 1.7% in July
Global crude steel production in July grew, but the rate of growth slowed considerably last month.
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Production from the 64 countries reporting to the World Steel Association totaled 156.7 million tons in July, up 1.7% compared with July 2018.
The production growth in July marked a decline from the previous month, when year-over-year production growth reached 4.6%. Meanwhile, year-over-year production growth in July 2018 reached 5.3%.
China’s steel production has also dropped significantly.
After reaching year-over-year production growth of 12.7% in April, growth dropped to 10% for May and June. In July, however, growth plummeted to 5%.
China’s crude steel production for July 2019 totaled 85.2 million tons. No. 2 producer India produced 9.2 million tons of crude steel in July 2019, marking a 1.7% increase compared to July 2018.
Japan’s production 8.4 million tons of crude steel marked a 0.4% decline from July 2018. South Korea tallied crude steel production of 6.0 million tons, down 2.1% from July 2018.
U.S. production reached 7.5 million tons, up 1.8% compared to July 2018.
According to the American Iron and Steel Institute, U.S. steel production for the year through Aug. 24 increased 4.4% compared with the same period of 2018. Production for the period this year totaled 63.5 million tons.
The U.S. steel sector’s capacity utilization rate for the period reached 81.0%, up from 77.3% for the same period in 2018. By region, production during the week ending Aug. 24 reached:
- Northeast: 202,000 tons
- Great Lakes: 681,000 tons
- Midwest: 204,000 tons
- Southern: 719,000 tons
- Western: 71,000 tons
Elsewhere, Brazil’s crude steel production in July plunged 20.7% to 2.4 million tons, while Turkey’s production fell 10.6% to 2.9 million tons.
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