Worldsteel reported Chinese crude steel production at 63.2 million metric tonnes in January, 7.8% lower than in January 2015. China’s net finished steel exports (exports minus imports) in January were 8.8 million tonnes, 3.6% lower than in January 2015 and 14.0% lower than the record net exports level reached in September 2015.
China monthly crude steel production
January 2005 to January 2016
thousand metric tonnes
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Worldsteel published January’s world crude steel production on February 23rd. World crude steel production was 127.7 million metric tonnes, 7.1% lower than in January 2015. China accounted for 49% of world production in January with an output of 63.2M tonnes, down 7.8% compared to January 2015.
Significant production declines compared to January 2015 in the Asian region but outside of China include a 19.5% drop in Taiwan, a 4.5% fall in South Korea, and a 2.8% reduction in Japan. In other parts of the world over the same period, European Union production dropped 7.6%, driven by 38.4% lower production in the United Kingdom, and in the Americas, output dropped 8.8% in the US, 9.0% in Mexico, and 17.9% in Brazil. Other significant changes include a 10.6% reduction in Russia, but also notable in the Middle East/African regions, Saudi Arabia’s production was down almost 50% and Egypt’s down by 36.1%.
All the data for January 2016 and for a number of prior years can be found in the Nerds spreadsheet below.
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Ternium announced Q4 and full year 2015 results today. BlueScope Steel announced results for the second half of calendar year 2015, which include some detail on their North American hot mill, North Star BlueScope. Ternium reported EBITDA of $117 per ton in Q4, up from $92 in Q3. This is the highest Q4 EBITDA per ton among the companies we track in the Nerds of Steel earnings spreadsheet. North Star BlueScope reported EBITDA per ton of $59 in the second half of 2015, down from $68 in the first half.
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Based on reported import licenses, US flat products imports fell 7% from 882,000 short tons in December to 825,000 tons in January. Flat products imports in January 2015 were 1,499,000 tons and in January 2014 they were 921,000 tons.
Lower cold rolled and cut plate imports drove the overall decline with cold rolled imports falling significantly from Vietnam and cut plate imports falling mainly from China. Hot rolled and hot dip galvanized imports both rose marginally between December and January.
I will update the chart below to show mid-January licenses when the figures are published the week of February 15th.
SIMA US import licenses and actuals, flat products
January 2013 to January 2016
short tons
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