World steel output declines 2.1% in May this year

KOLKATA: World steel output declined 2.1% in May this year compared to May 2014 led mainly by drop in steel output across Europe, the US, China and Japan. India, however, seemed to have bucked the trend and posted a 4% increase in steel production in May 2015.

Domestic steel production went up to 7.68 in May 2015 over 7.38 mt in May 2014. In the five month period between January–May 2015, India's steel output went up 6.1% to 37.6 mt in against 35.4 mt in January –May 2014.

According to data from the Brussels–based World Steel Association (WSA), global steel output went down to 139.3 mt in May 2015 against 142.3 mt in May 2014. Between January–May 2015, it dipped by 1.9% to 675.6 mt in from 689 mt in the five month period between January –May 2014. The 65 countries listed under WSA represent 98% of global crude steel production in 2014.

China's steady decline in steel output was one of the largest contributors to the fall in steel output globally. The country, which is the leading producer of steel, saw output shrink 1.7% in May this year to 69.1 mt compared to 71.1 mt in same month last year. Elsewhere in Asia, Japan another leading global producer of steel saw output drop 7% from 9.5 mt a year ago to 8.9 mt in May 2015. South Korea reported a steel production of 6 mt in May 2015, down 2.6% compared to May 2014.

US steel output too went down to 6.8 mt in May this year, posting a 8.5% decrease compared to 7.4 mt a year ago. In Europe, the biggest fall was reported from Italy where output shrank 12.6% to 2 mt in May 2015 from 2.29 mt in May 2014. Germany's steel production too went down 5.4% to 3.7 mt in May this year from 3.9 mt last year.

Among the CIS countries, Ukraine posted the biggest fall in steel output during May 2015. The country produced 2.2 mt of steel, down by 23.0% compared to the same month in 2014. In May 2015, Russia produced 6.1 mt of crude steel, down by -1.9% over May 2014.