World steel production surges ahead by 2% in Sept.

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24 October 2016

Global steel overcapacity is unlikely to contract in 2016 as visible from the World Steel Association (WSA) data reported this month.

World crude steel production for the 66 countries reporting to WSA was 132.9 million tonnes (Mt) in September 2016, 2.0% up on September 2015.

Leading the show, India’s steel production grew 8.5% to 7.8 mt in September 2016 compared to 7.2 mt in September 2015

China’s crude steel production for September 2016 was 68.2 Mt, an increase of 3.9% compared to September 2015. Elsewhere in Asia, Japan produced 8.4 Mt of crude steel in September 2016, a decrease of -1.5% compared to September 2015. South Korea’s crude steel production was 5.7 Mt in September 2016, up by 1.1% on September 2015. Asia’s steel output went up 3.7% to 92.5 mt during September over the same month last year.

Though, globally steel surplus countries like China, Japan, Korea are working towards cutting capacities, the September figures do not indicate much of the measures taking shape. Much more is needed in this aspect to decrease the volume of trade barriers being imposed every year.

Meanwhile, the crude steel capacity utilisation ratio of the 66 countries in September 2016 was 70%. It was 69.5% in September 2015. The September 2016 capacity utilisation ratio is 1.5 percentage points higher than the August 2016 ratio.