World crude steel production for the 65 countries reporting to the World Steel Association (worldsteel) was 137 million tonnes (Mt) in July 2014, an increase of 1.7% compared to July 2013.
China’s crude steel production for July 2014 was 68.3 Mt, up by 1.5% compared to July 2013. Elsewhere in Asia, Japan produced 9.3 Mt of crude steel in July 2014, the same level of production as in July 2013. South Korea produced 5.9 Mt of crude steel in July 2014, up by 6.2% on July 2013.
In the EU, Germany produced 3.4 Mt of crude steel in July 2014, an increase of 1.5% compared to July 2013. The UK produced 1.0 Mt of crude steel, down by -4.4% compared to July 2013. Austria’s crude steel production was 0.6 Mt, a decrease of -5.2% on July 2013. Netherlands produced 0.6 Mt of crude steel, down by -0.5% compared to July 2013.
Turkey’s crude steel production for July 2014 was 2.8 Mt, up by 1.0% on July 2013.
In July 2014, Russia produced 6.2 Mt of crude steel, up by 8.1% over July 2013. Ukraine produced 2.5 Mt of crude steel, a decrease of -11.7% compared to the same month 2013.
The US produced 7.6 Mt of crude steel in July 2014, an increase of 2.3% compared to July 2013.
Brazil’s crude steel production for July 2014 was 2.9 Mt, up by 0.5% on July 2013.
The crude steel capacity utilisation ratio for the 65 countries in July 2014 was 75.4%. It is -1.2 percentage points lower than July 2013. Compared to June 2014, it is -2.9 percentage points lower.
A lousy 1.7% and China below it for the first time in living memory at 1.5%! Paradigm shift, peeps.
David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal.
He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.
