Commodity Online
BRUSSELS: World crude steel production for the 66 countries reporting to the World Steel Association (worldsteel) was 100.5 million metric tons (mmt) in October. This is 12.4% lower than the same month last year and 6.9% below September 2008.

Total world crude steel production was 1,136.2 mmt in the first 10 months of 2008, a 2.9% increase over the same period in 2007. In October 2008, the world crude steel production moving annual total (MAT) growth rate further slowed to 3.0% from 4.7% last month.

China’s crude steel production for October 2008 was 35.9 mmt, a decrease of -17.0% on October 2007 and -9.4% on September 2008. In the first 10 months of 2008, China produced 427.3 mmt of crude steel, an increase of 3.9% compared to the same period in 2007.

Overall, Asia produced 56.9 mmt of crude steel in October 2008 compared to 64.4 mmt in October 2007, a -11.6% decrease in crude steel production. Japanese production was 10.1 mmt, down by -2.7% compared to the same month last year. India and South Korea showed an increase in October 2008, producing 4.8 and 4.6 mmt of crude steel respectively.

In the EU, Germany produced 3.9 mmt of crude steel in October 2008, a decrease of -7.7% from October 2007. Italy’s crude steel production was 2.6 mmt, down by -12.2% compared to the same month last year. France showed an increase of 16.1% from October 2007, producing 1.6 mmt in October 2008.

In the CIS, 7.0 mmt of crude steel was produced, a decrease of -32.6% compared to the same month last year. Russia produced 4.5 mmt, -27.1% less than in October 2007 and Ukraine produced 1.9 mmt, a decrease of -48.7%.

North American crude steel production in October 2008 was 12.9% below that of October 2007, but South America was just 0.8% down on October 2007