World crude steel production fell 2.9 percent in January 2015

World Steel's latest data show that global crude steel production fell 2.9 percent in January 2015 compared to the same period last year. The total steel production in January 2015 was 133 million tonnes. This result is based on data from 65 countries reporting to the World Steel Association.

The volume of steel production in the CIS countries in January 2015 decreased by 3.1 percent to 8.526 million tons compared to 8.801 million tons in January last year. In Russia, steel production over this period increased by 0.4 percent to 6.1 million tons. Ukraine reduced production by 25.2 percent to 1.9 million tons, which is not surprising given the current situation in the country.

China produced 65.5 million tons, down 4.7 percent from 68.727 million tons in January 2014. India produced 7.070 million tons of crude steel, a slight increase of 0.3 percent from 7.047 million tons in January last year. Japan reported a 4 percent decrease in crude steel output in January this year to 9.023 million tons, up from 9.397 million tons in January 2014.

The total steel production of the EU-28 countries in January of this year was 14.446 million tons, which is 1.1 percent lower than the production of 14.608 million tons in January 2014. In Germany, steel production amounted to 3.7 million tons, an increase of 0.5 percent; in Italy, production was 1.9 ml. tons of steel, down 11.3 percent; in France, steel production was 1.3 million tons, down 10.6 percent; in Spain, steel production rose 11 percent to 1.3 million tonnes, all on an annualized basis.

At the same time, Turkey reduced steel production by 10.4 percent to 2.6 million tons. The US saw an increase in crude steel production by 0.4 percent to 7.4 million tonnes, while Brazil saw an increase of 7.7 percent to 3 million tonnes.