Find below the iron ore price table for March 21, 2013:
In news, the World Steel Association has released its February statistics and the result was solid and impressive in China on its restock:
Brussels, 20 March 2013 – World crude steel production for the 63 countries reporting to the World Steel Association (worldsteel) was 123 million tonnes (Mt) in February 2013, an increase of 1.2% compared to February 2012.
China’s crude steel production for February 2013 was 61.8 Mt, up by 9.8% compared to February 2012. Elsewhere in Asia, Japan produced 8.3 Mt of crude steel in February 2013, down by -3.4% compared to the same month last year. South Korea’s crude steel production was 5.0 Mt in February 2013, a decrease of -8.5% over February 2012.
In the EU, Germany produced 3.4 Mt of crude steel in February 2013, a decrease of -3.7% on February 2012. Italy’s crude steel production was 2.1 Mt, down by -15.0% compared to February 2012. France’s crude steel production was 1.3 Mt, a decrease of -0.8% on February 2012. Spain produced 1.2 Mt of crude steel, -1.7% lower than February 2012.
Turkey’s crude steel production for February 2013 was 2.7 Mt, a decrease of -3.9% compared to February 2012.
The US produced 6.7 Mt of crude steel in February 2013, down by -11.8% on February 2012.
In February 2013, Brazil produced 2.6 Mt of crude steel production, a decrease of -6.2% compared to the same month last year.
The crude steel capacity utilisation ratio for the 63 countries in February 2013 rose to 80.5% from 76.7% in January 2013. Compared to February 2012, it is 0.8 percentage point lower.
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.
