A 7% fall in steel output in Japan has clipped growth in global output in May, but still left it at the highest level this year and above the same month of a year ago.
And Chinese production topped the 60 million tonne mark for the first time ever.
World crude steel production for the 64 countries reporting to the World Steel Association (worldsteel) was 129.86 million tonnes, last month a new monthly high.
May’s total was up from the 126.2 million tonnes in April, the Brussels-based industry group said this week.
Japan produced 9.0 million metric tons (tonnes or mmt) of crude steel in May 2011, down 7% from May of last year due to the production disruption caused by the recent earthquake and tsunami.
But it was up on the 8.3 million tonnes produced in April, when the impact of the quake and tsunami was deepest, especially on steel plants around Tokyo and in the north of the main island.
Global production was 4.2% higher than May of last year and topped the previous record of 129.75 million tonnes set in April, according to figures from the Association.
Despite signs of demand for steel slowing and talk of price falls in China and weakening iron ore prices, the global steel industry on the whole is in better shape than the global economy.
But global iron ore prices are slipping.
Reuters reported yesterday that Rio Tinto has sliced its third quarter contract price by around $US3 a tonne to around $US168 a tonne.
That was after a 20% rise in the second quarter, so the slowdown in demand is evident, as is the higher supplies of ore from Australia and Brazil which were impacted by bad weather in January and February.
The World Steel Association said Global steel output in January-May totalled nearly 630 million tonnes, up 7.3% year-on-year.
The steel capacity utilization ratio among the 64 countries reporting to worldsteel in May was 81.7%, down 0.6 percentage points on April and the same amount lower than a year earlier (See the above graph).
China’s crude steel production for May 2011 was 60.2 million tonnes, up 7.8% compared to May 2010 and up 1.2 million tonnes for April.
It was also the highest production of the year so far and in fact the highest ever.
Besides China and Japan, which dominate Asia and the global trade, South Korea produced 5.9 million tonnes of crude steel in May 2011, 12.8% more than in May 2010 and steady on the figures for April and March.
Asia produced 402 million tonnes of crude steel in the first five months of 2011, an increase of 7.9% year-on-year.
EU crude steel production fell 1.3% in May from a year earlier to 16.3 million tonnes, but rose on April’s 15.7 million.
In the EU, Germany’s crude steel production for May 2011 was 4.1 million tonnes an increase of 1.1% compared to May 2010.
Italy’s crude steel production was 2.6 million tonnes, up 6.9% compared to the same month last year. Spain produced 1.6 million tonnes of crude steel in May 2011, down 5.5% over May 2010.
All three countries saw production in May higher than in April, as did France.
Brazil’s crude steel production for May 2011 was 3.3 million tonnes, an increase of 14.7% compared to May 2010 and up from the 2.98 million tonnes produced in April.
The US produced 7.3 million tonnes of crude steel in May 2011, 0.1% higher than in May 2010 and around 200,000 tonnes more than the 7 million produced in April.
Iran’s crude steel production in May 2011 was 1.1 million tonnes, an increase of 4.5% on May 2010.
India’s production in May of 5.876 million tonnes was all but steady on a year ago when 5.860 million tonnes were produced.
It was up from April’s 5.731 million tonnes, but well under the 6.35 million tonnes produced in March.
In Australia production was 563,000 tonnes, down sharply from April’s 645,000 tonnes and May, 2010’s 687,000 tonnes.
