The recovery in the global steel industry continued in October.
But while China’s steel output recovered to again top the 50 million tonne mark, it was still lower than for October 2009, unlike output in a growing number of other countries.
Global steel output rose 2.4% in October from 2009, according to the World Steel Association.
The WSA, which monitors output in 66 countries, said production last month came to 118 million tonnes, the highest for four months and up 4.6% from September and thanks to higher production in a number of areas, led by Japan, South Korea, parts of Europe and the US.
But in China, production fell 3.8% to 50.3 million tonnes, from the same month last year.
But that was up 4.8% from September.
All this is good news for Australia and our iron ore exporters, although there are growing concerns that China, and other Asian producers might see lower demand and output in coming months.
The Association in its latest monthly report added that crude steel output in October was 18.5% higher than in October 2008, when the global financial crisis really began to bite.
The Association said crude steel production for the 66 countries during the first 10 months of 2010 was 1,165 million tonnes, 2.5% higher than in 2008.
Crude steel production in the 66 reporting countries for the first ten months of 2009 of 982 million tonnes was around 19% under the level for the first 10 months of this year.
Most boosts in production were reported in Japan up 8.0%, 11.4% in South Korea, 11% in Germany, 9.6% in the US and 4.7% in Brazil.
And underlining the continuing gentle recovery, the Association said the crude steel capacity utilisation ratio of the 66 countries last month rose to 75.4% from 74.8% in September 2010.
That was the highest for four months as well.
Compared to October 2009, the utilisation ratio in October 2010 decreased by 2.7 percentage points.
The Association said Japan produced 9.51 million tonnes of crude steel in October, South Korean production last month was 5.21 million tonnes, Germany’s crude steel output in October was 3.83 million tonnes, Italy produced 2.48 million tonnes up 11.9% on 2009, Turkey 2.7 million tonnes up 18.6%, while the rise in the US boosted output to 6.57 million tonnes.
Steel production in India was 5.750 million tonnes, equal to the highest figure for 2010 so far and a sign of that country’s expansion. India was the 4th biggest producer around the world last month.
India’s October 2010 output was up on the 5.28 million of October 2009 and 4.80 million tonnes in the same month of 2008.
"However, crude steel production in the EU and North America during the first 10 months of 2010 was still -17.4% and -16.8% (respectively) less, compared to the same period in 2008 while Asia’s crude steel production was 14.7% higher," the Association said.
Australian output in October was 631,000 tonnes, barely higher than the 624,000 tonnes in October of last year and the 627,000 tonnes in the same month of 2008.
Japan’s crude steel output rose 3% in October from September for the second month on month gain, which came despite the higher yen and a small fall in exports.
Strong domestic demand for cars in September helped boost demand for steel.
That was driven by tax breaks for more eco friendly and efficient vehicles and electrical appliances which expired at the end of September, but helped push economic growth in Japan along faster than expected in the September quarter.
But several industry websites now warn that November and December production in Japan, China and South Korea might weaken with spot prices for steel products falling in China as the government tries to control inflation.
The measures announced on Friday and over the weekend could see further downward pressure on steel prices in coming weeks, and on demand for steel.
