Worldsteel published January’s world crude steel production today. World steel output was 146.7 million metric tonnes, 1.0% higher than in January 2018.
China accounted for 51% of world output in January with production of 75.0 million tonnes, 4.3% higher than in January 2018. Asian output outside of China fell 2.9%, mainly due to a 9.8% crude production decline in Japan and despite a 35.2% rise in Vietnam. European Union production fell 3.5% on January 2018, in this case following a 7.2% decline in Germany. In North America, US production rose 11.0%, while in Turkey, output fell 19.5% and in Russia, production was down 4.5%.
Photo of number 5 Blast Furnace located at the Port Talbot Corus (now Tata) Steel Plant South Wales UK by Grubb at English Wikipedia [Public domain]
US import licenses for long steel products in December were 206,000 short tons, 17% lower than November imports. Compared to December, January import licenses rose 60% to 329,000 tons. The increase in January was mainly due to higher rebar licenses from Italy, Vietnam, and Bulgaria. Wire rod import licenses also increased significantly from Brazil, Germany and Egypt, while parallel flange sections licenses rose considerably from South Korea and Taiwan.
Based on January to November final import data and December licenses, US longs imports fell 25% between 2017 and 2018 with the largest volume declines coming from wire rod (-25%), rebar (-20%), and parallel flange sections (-28%).
Final December import data should be published mid-March.
SIMA US long products import licenses
2013 to 2019
short tons
Photo by Frank Vincentz [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)] at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Steel_wire_02_ies.jpg
Worldsteel reported crude steel production in China at 76.1 million metric tonnes in December, 8.2% higher than in December 2017. Full-year output in 2018 was 928.3 million tonnes, 6.6% higher than it was in 2017.
In addition, Chinese net finished steel exports (exports minus imports) in December were 4.6 million tonnes, 1.8% higher than in December 2017, while full-year net exports were 9.4% lower than in 2017. Full-year net exports as a portion of crude steel production fell from 7.2% in 2017 to 6.1% in 2018.
China monthly crude steel production 2006 to 2018
thousand metric tonnes
Photo by 颐园新居 [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons
Worldsteel published December and full-year 2018 world crude steel production today. World crude steel production was 147.1 million metric tonnes in December, 4.2% higher than in December 2017. Full-year 2018 production was 1,808.6 million tonnes, 4.6% higher than in 2017.
Chinese crude production accounted for 51% of full-year 2018 world output and showed a 6.6% increase between 2017 and 2018, accounting for 73% of the rise in production year-on-year. Asian output outside of China grew 3.2% supported by increases in India (+4.9%), Vietnam (+36.9%), and South Korea (+2.0%). European Union production fell 0.2% over the same period and North American output was up 4.1%, driven by a 6.2% increase in the US and despite a 4.0% drop in Canada. Other significant production gains around the world came from Iran (+17.7%) and Egypt (+13.6%).
All the data for 2018 and for a number of prior years can be found in the downloadable spreadsheet below. Note that annual totals may not match the sum of the months because the annual data includes estimates of countries which only report annually.
Rolling process at NLMK Pennsylvania (NLMK Group)
Photo from Worldsteel Association Image Library by Worldsteel / Jeff Swensen, Image ID: 467
Worldsteel reported Chinese crude steel production at 77.6 million metric tonnes in November, 10.8% higher than in November 2017. Chinese output over the first eleven months of 2018 was 6.8% higher than in the same period last year.
Chinese net finished steel exports (exports minus imports) in November were 4.2 million tonnes, 0.2% lower than in November 2017. Net exports in the first eleven months of 2018 were 10.3% lower than in the first eleven months of 2017.
China monthly crude steel production
January 2006 to November 2018, thousand metric tonnes
Rails ready for transportation
Photo from Worldsteel Association image library by worldsteel / Shawn Koh, image ID: 752
Worldsteel published November’s world crude steel production yesterday. World steel output was 148.6 million metric tonnes, 5.8% higher than in November 2017. Crude steel production in the first eleven months of 2018 was 4.7% higher than in the same period last year.
China accounted for 52% of world output in November with production of 77.6 million tonnes, 10.8% higher than in November 2017. Asian output outside of China grew 0.6% with increases in Taiwan (+8.4%) and Vietnam (+32.2%) offsetting declines in Pakistan (-29.5%) and India (-1.3%). European Union production rose 1.2% on November 2017 and in North America, production rose 11.8% in the US, but was down 8.2% in Mexico and 4.1% in Canada. Other notable changes year-on-year include a 4.0% decline in Russia, a 11.2% drop in Ukraine, and a 6.1% fall in Brazil.
Tapping molten iron in blast furnace ironmaking plant
Photo from Worldsteel Association image library by worldsteel / Seong Joon Cho, image ID: 251
