Asian steel production up 2.7 percent in February

According to the latest data released by the World Steel Association, steel output in Asia posted a steady increase of 2.7 percent during February 2015 at an annualized rate.

China's total crude steel production in February reached 65.030 million tonnes, up 3.4 percent from 62.890 million tonnes in February 2014. India produced 6.910 million tons of steel, up 5.6 percent from 6.541 million tons of steel production in February last year.

Japan reported a slight decrease in crude steel production in February. Steel production in Japan fell to 8.434 million tonnes in February this year from 8.449 million tonnes in the same month of 2014. South Korea's crude steel output has dropped significantly. The fall was 4.4 percent to 5.097 million tons in February this year, compared with 5.334 million tons in February 2014. Taiwan's steel production in February rose 2.2 percent to 1.790 million tons, up from 1.752 million tons in the same month last year.

The cumulative production of steel in the first two months of 2015 compared to the same period in 2014 amounted to: 130.530 million tons in China (down 1.5 percent), in Japan 17.456 million tons (down 2.2 percent), India 14.563 million tons (an increase of 7.2 percent), South Korea 11.013 million tons (a decline of 3.6 percent), Taiwan 3.769 million tons (an increase of 6.3 percent).