Steel production in the CIS continues to fall

Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) steel output declined 6.0 percent during February 2015 on an annualized basis, according to the latest data released by the World Steel Association. This is due to the fact that the growth of production in some countries could not compensate for the decline in others.

Total crude steel production in Belarus rose 28.9 percent in February this year to 205,000 tonnes, up from 159,000 tonnes in February 2014. Kazakhstan produced 231,000 tons of crude steel, decreasing output by 10.7 percent from 259,000 tons in February last year. Moldova recorded 19,000 tons of steel production in a month. Total crude steel production in Russia increased by 5.6 percent to 5.739 million tonnes in February this year, up from 5.435 million tonnes in February 2014.

In February, the sharp decline in steel production in Ukraine continued. The total volume of steel production in Ukraine decreased by 33.2 percent to 1.588 million tons in February 2015 compared with an output of 2.377 million tons in the same month last year. The production of steel in Uzbekistan also decreased by 14 percent during the month.

The cumulative results of steel production in the first two months of 2015 compared to the same period in 2014: Belarus 424 thousand tons (an increase of 29.4 percent), Kazakhstan 464 thousand tons (a fall of 14.9 percent), Moldova 41 thousand tons (an increase 3.0 percent), Russia 11953 thousand tons (an increase of 6.6 percent), Ukraine 3459 thousand tons (a drop of 29.2 percent), Uzbekistan 99 thousand tons (a drop of 13.5 percent).