Worldsteel published May’s world crude steel production today. World crude steel output was 154.9 million metric tonnes, 6.6% higher than in May 2017. Crude steel production in the first five months of 2018 was 4.6% higher than in the same period last year.
China accounted for 52% of world output in May with production of a record 81.1 million tonnes, 8.9% higher than in May 2017. Asian output outside of China grew 4.3% following increases in India (+7.6%), Vietnam (+36.4%), South Korea (+3.0%) and Japan (+1.8%), but despite a decline in Taiwan (-14.4%). European Union production rose 1.8% compared to May last year, and NAFTA output rose 4.2% with the United States up 3.0%, Canada up 14.3%, and Mexico up 3.4%. Other notable changes include a 6% production increase in Russia, a 12.4% rise in Iran, and an 8.6% drop in Brazil.
Photo by Barcket [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], from Wikimedia Commons
What’s going on in the North American steel industry? In the spreadsheet below, we keep track of steel industry capacity additions, closures, idlings, and restarts, together with links to news sources. It is organized by product: upstream, carbon long products, carbon flat roll, stainless & silicon, pipe & tube, downstream, and steel-related. Download it to see all the details. Let us know what you think, and as always, feel free to suggest additions or modifications.
Based on reported import licenses, US long steel products imports fell 10% from 427,000 short tons in April to 382,000 tons in May. This was mainly due to lower rebar imports from Turkey, Vietnam and Russia, together with lower parallel flange sections imports from Taiwan and South Korea.
Long products imports in the first five months of 2018 were 24% lower than in the same period last year, led by a 31% drop in wire rod imports and a 28% fall in rebar imports.
SIMA US long products imports licenses
2012 to 2018
short tons
Badische Stahlwerke, Kehl wire rod coils
Photo from Worldsteel Association Image Library by worldsteel / Gregor Schlaeger, Image Ref: worldsteel / Gregor Schlaeger
Based on reported import licenses, US flat products imports dropped 20% from 1,078,000 short tons in April to 863,000 tons in May. The biggest decline came from hot dip galvanized imports, with product from Russia showing a steep drop.
Flat products imports in the first five months of 2018 were 3% higher than in the same period last year, driven mainly by a 36% increase in hot rolled imports, which was offset by declines in cold rolled imports (-15%) and hot dip galvanized imports (-13%).
SIMA US flat products imports licenses
January 2013 to May 2018
short tons
Photo by The Theis Group [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], from Wikimedia Commons
In celebration of the Italian Republic Day holiday (& steel) tomorrow, we’re sharing our profile of the Italian steel industry. Just click on the flag below to read & download the PDF report.
This fine looking profile was engineered in our Steel Data Room. The underlying data will automatically update. So we won’t have to do anything for next year’s celebration, except point you to the new one.
You can register for a free Steel Data Room trial to access the original dynamic Italian Steel Industry dashboard, where you can choose to make the report about your own country or region simply by making a selection in the dropdown box. Celebrate Tonga on June 4, Denmark on June 5, Sweden on June 6, Russia on June 12, Djibouti on June 27…. There’s no end to celebrating global steel production. Auguri Italia!
