World steel production dips in January

The year 2013 began on a subdued note for the steel industry with global production increasing by just 0.8 per cent in January to 125 million tonne (MT) in which India contributed 6.6 MT.

The growth in production in January was lower than the average growth the industry had clocked during the entire 2012 at 1.2 per cent, World Steel Association (WSA) said in a monthly report released today.

The global production of the alloy stood at 123.7 MT in January 2012, with India contributing 6.3 MT.

In January this year, China was the highest producer of steel with 59.3 MT, up 4.6 per cent over January 2012. Japan produced 8.9 MT, South Korea 5.8 MT.

In the European Union, Germany produced 3.6 MT, Italy - 1.8 MT, France - 1.4 MT and Spain - 1.1 MT.

Turkey's crude steel production for January 2013 was 2.9 MT, down 8.8 per cent in January 2012, WSA said.

Russia produced 5.7 MT in January, a dip of 5.7 per cent compared to the same month last year. Ukraine's production was 2.7 MT.

Production of steel in the US also fell by 5.8 per cent to 7.3 MT.

"The crude steel capacity utilisation ratio declined to 71.2 per cent from 73.2 per cent in December 2012. Compared to January 2012, it is 5.5 percentage points lower," WSA said.