World steel output fell 2.8 percent last year: Report

A new report released by the World Steel Association says the overall global production of steel decreased by 2.8 percent last year, hitting 1.62 billion tonnes.

The report, which was published on Monday, said China, as the world’s second biggest economy, accounted for almost half of the total steel produced in the world in 2015, AFP reported.

China, which is the largest consumer and producer of steel in the world, produced 803.8 million tonnes of steel last year, showing a decrease of 2.3 percent compared to 2014. Of course, the report added, China’s actual share of world steel output increased 0.2 percentage points to 49.5 percent.

"Crude steel production decreased in all regions except Oceania in 2015," following the first overall annual drop in 2009, when overall steel output stood at 1.24 billion tonnes, the World Steel Association (WSA) added.

Last October, the WSA had initially forecast a 1.7 percent rise in world steel demand for 2015, followed by a 0.7 percent rise this year.

The next forecast to be released by the association is due in April 2016. According to the association’s own estimate, it accounts for about 85 percent of world steel production.

Japan, which is the world's second largest producer of steel, saw its 2015 output slide by 5 percent to hit 105.2 million tonnes.

In the meantime, India’s production of steel rose by 2.3 percent to stand at 83.2 million tonnes, causing it to rank as number three globally, while South Korea’s output fell back 2.6 percent to 69.7 million tonnes.

Asia’s overall steel production decreased 2.3 percent to hit 1.11 billion tonnes.

Last year, member states of the European Union produced 166.2 million tonnes of crude steel, recording a decrease of 1.8 percent compared with 2014.

Germany’s production dipped just 0.6 percent, while steel output in Russia, which is the world’s number five producer and a non-EU member of the association, dropped just 0.5 percent to 71/1 million tonnes. Steel production in Italy and France also slumped by seven percent, while Spain produced 14.9 million tonnes in 2015, showing an increase of 4.4 percent.

Steel production in North America came in 8.6 percent lower at 110.7 million tonnes, with the world’s fourth largest producer, the United States, recording a production fall of 10.5 percent to 78.9 million tonnes.

Brazil, as the most prosperous economy in South America, saw production off 1.9 percent to 33.2 million tones.

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