Worldsteel published December and full-year 2013 global crude steel production on January 23rd. World crude steel production was 129.2 million metric tonnes in December, 6.5% higher than in December 2012. Full-year 2013 production was 1,578 million tonnes, 4.5% higher than in 2012.
Chinese crude production accounted for 49% of full-year world output and showed a 7.5% increase between 2012 and 2013 (based on revised worldsteel figures for 2012, otherwise the increase is 9%). Other notable changes in full-year output between 2012 and 2013 include a 12% drop in Italy, a 22% increase in the United Kingdom, a 6% increase in India, a 3% increase in Japan, a 5% fall in Korea and finally a 2% decrease in the US.
All the data for 2013 and for a number of prior years can be viewed in the Nerds spreadsheet below.
Based on reported import licenses, US long products imports dropped 34% from 232,000 short tons in November to 153,000 tons in December. In addition, December 2013 long products imports were 5% lower than December imports in 2012. Annual 2013 long products imports were 1% higher than in 2012.
The November-to-December drop was mainly due to lower rebar and parallel flange sections imports. Rebar imports were lower from Turkey, Spain, and Mexico while parallel flange sections (PFS) imports fell from Korea, the United Arab Emirates, Luxembourg, and Russia, but this was after PFS imports increased in each of these countries in November.
I will update the graph below to show mid-month licenses as soon as SIMA updates the licenses this week .
SIMA US long products import licenses and import actuals 2011-2013
short tons
*Oct 2013 licenses are incomplete due to US government shutdown
China crude steel production was 60.9 million metric tonnes in November, 6% higher than in November 2012. Year-to-November production was 712 million tonnes, 9% higher than year-to-November production in 2012.
Comparing consecutive months, November production was 6% lower than October production, but due to the shorter November month, average daily production in November was only 3% lower.
In addition, Chinese net finished steel exports in November were 3.75 million tonnes which is 6% lower than in November 2012 and 5% lower than in October 2013.
Just click on the Excel icon on the right under the chart below to download all the data.
China Monthly Crude Steel Production 2003 to 2013
(thousand metric tonnes)
Based on reported import licenses, US flat products imports rose 10% from 676,000 short tons in November to 744,000 tons in December. December flat products imports in 2012 were 721,000 tons, in 2011 542,000 tons, and in 2010 547,000 tons. Total flat products imports in 2013 were 3% higher than in 2012.
The rise in flats imports in December was mainly due to higher cold roll and hot dip galvanized imports. Cold rolled imports rose by about 25% due to higher imports from China and hot dip galvanized imports were up by about 20% due to higher imports from India, Korea, Mexico, and Italy.
I will update the chart below when the data is published the week of January 21st (to reflect mid-month January licenses). To see the data behind the chart, just click on the Excel icon to download a copy of the file.
SIMA US import licenses flat products
short tons
*Oct 2013 licenses are incomplete due to US government shutdown
Just in time to liven up those dull holiday conversations, Worldsteel published November’s global crude steel production on December 20th. World crude steel production was 127.4 million metric tonnes, 4% higher than in November 2012 and 5% lower than in October 2013.
Chinese production accounted for 48% of world production in November and showed a 6% increase between November 2012 and 2013 and a 6% drop between October and November 2013. Other notable changes between November 2012 and 2013 include a 9% increase in Japanese production, a 5% increase in US production, and a 8% fall in Ukrainian production. European Union 27 countries showed a 4% rise in production year-on year.
All the data for November 2013 and for a number of prior years can be viewed in the Nerds spreadsheet below. To download the file, just click on the Excel icon at the bottom right. See you in the New Year!
Based on reported import licenses, US long products imports rose 11% from 207,000 short tons in October to 229,000 tons in November. November long products imports in 2013 were 3% higher than 2012 levels and year-to-November 2013 imports were 1% higher than year-to-November 2012 imports.
Imports of parallel flange sections, light shapes, structural angles & channels and rebar increased between October and November. The largest volume increase came from parallel flange sections, where arrivals from a number of countries including the United Arab Emirates, Korea, Russia, and Luxembourg appear to have increased.
Mid-month December long products import licenses as reported December 17th were 100,000 tons which is likely to mean that full-month December licenses will be lower than November’s.
