Worldsteel published June’s world crude steel production on July 20th. World crude steel output was 141.0 million metric tonnes, 3.2% higher than in June 2016. World production for the first six months of 2017 was 4.3% higher than in the same period last year.
China accounted for 52% of world output in June with production of 73.2 million tonnes, 5.7% higher than in June 2016. Also in Asia, South Korean output rose 7.7%, production in Vietnam was up 54.3%, but Japanese crude output fell 4.3%. European Union production rose by 3.9% compared to last June, led by a 32.3% increase in the United Kingdom and a 22.3% rise in Poland. Further to the east, Turkish output rose 7.1%, Iranian output was up 16.4%, while production fell in Russia (-8.0%) and Ukraine (-13.0%). And in the Americas, output fell in the US (-1.7%) but rose in Mexico (+1.0) and Brazil (+4.0%).
All the data for June 2017 and for a number of prior years can be found in the Nerds spreadsheet below.
Photo by Andrzej Otrębski (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Based on reported import licenses, US long steel products imports rose 52% from 396,000 short tons in May to 603,000 tons in June. Long products imports for the first six months of 2017 were 6% higher than in the same period last year, led by a 14% increase in wire rod imports and despite a 12% drop in parallel flange sections imports.
The increase in longs imports between May and June (bearing in mind the shorter month of June) was mainly due to higher rebar imports from Turkey and Portugal.
SIMA US long products import licenses and actuals
2012 to 2017
short tons
Photo by Rebarbeams.JPG: Useradd derivative work: Technyck (Rebarbeams.JPG) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons
Based on reported import licenses, US flat steel products imports rose 15% from 938,000 short tons in May to 1,079,000 tons in June. Flat products imports for the first six months of 2017 were 1% higher than in the same period last year, with increases in cold rolled (+36%) and hot dip galvanized (+27%) imports and declines in cut plate (-45%) and hot roll (-18%) imports.
Imports rose between May and June mainly due to higher hot roll and cold roll imports. Hot roll imports increase significantly from Turkey but also from a number of countries including Taiwan, Egypt, and the Netherlands. Cold roll imports rose from Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, South Africa and others.
SIMA US flat products import licenses and actuals
January 2013 to June 2017
short tons
By Jatinsanghvi (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Worldsteel reported Chinese crude steel production at 72.3 million metric tonnes in May, 2.5% higher than in May 2016. Chinese crude output for the first five months of 2017 was 4.1% higher than in the same period last year.
Chinese net finished steel exports (exports minus imports) in May were 5.9 million tonnes, 29.5% lower than in May 2016. Chinese net finished steel exports over the first five months of 2017 were 30.5% lower than in the first five months of 2016.
China monthly crude steel production
January 2006 to May 2017, thousand metric tonnes
Photo by AlfvanBeem (Own work) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons
Worldsteel published May’s world crude steel production yesterday. World crude steel output was 143.3 million metric tonnes, 2.0% higher than in May 2016. World production for the first five months of 2017 was 4.5% higher than in the same period last year.
China accounted for half of world output in May with production of 72.3 million tonnes, 1.8% higher than in May 2016. In non-China Asia, production increased significantly in India (+6.4%) and Vietnam (+96.6%). European Union crude production rose 2.0% compared to last May, with strong gains in Poland (+39.4%) and France (+21.5%), though production in the United Kingdom fell (-16.1%). In the Americas, Brazilian output rose 13.2% year-on-year, and US production was up 0.2%. Other changes to note include a 9.7% increase in output in Turkey and 25.5% drop in output in the Ukraine.
All the data for May 2017 and for a number of prior years can be found in the downloadable spreadsheet below.
Photo by Borvan53 (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Based on reported import licenses, US long steel products imports rose 13% from 407,000 short tons in April to 458,000 tons in May. Long products imports for the first five months of 2017 were 5% higher than in the same period last year, led by a 14% increase in wire rod imports and despite a 11% drop in parallel flange sections imports.
The increase in longs imports between April and May (bearing in mind the longer May month) was mainly due to higher rebar imports from Turkey and higher wire rod imports from Germany, South Africa, Belarus and Brazil.
SIMA US long products import licenses and actuals
2012 to 2017
short tons
Photo Taken by Argyriou (Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons.) [CC BY 2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons
