China produced 45 pct of world's crude steel in December - WSA
Shanghai. January 25. INTERFAX-CHINA - China's crude steel output in December stood at 47.66 million tons, accounting for 44.79 percent of the world's total, according to a World Steel Association (WSA) announcement on Jan. 22.
China's monthly crude steel output in December was 26.6 percent higher on an annual basis and up 0.85 percent from the previous month.
Overall, the 66 countries reporting to the WSA produced 106.41 million tons of crude steel in December, down by 0.6 percent from the previous month and 8.1 percent on an annual basis.
World crude steel production showed monthly increases again in December. The largest monthly increase was seen in Africa, up 8.1 percent from November to 1.36 million tons.
Global crude steel production in 2009 amounted to 1.2 billion tons, dropping by 8.1 percent year-on-year. The most significant drops were seen in North America, the European Union, and Oceania.
Asia, the world's largest crude steel producing region, produced 67.56 million tons of crude steel in December and 776.3 million tons total in 2009.
The following table shows global crude steel output figures in December and the year of 2009.
Global crude steel output, December and all of 2009
| Region | Dec output ('000 tons) | M-o-m change (%) | 2009 output ('000 tons) | Y-o-y change (%) |
| European Union (27) | 12,239 | -12.7 | 139,143 | -29.7 |
| Non-EU European countries | 2,548 | 1.4 | 28,814 | -7.9 |
| CIS (6) | 8,888 | 1.9 | 97,358 | -14.7 |
| North America | 8,147 | 1.4 | 82,251 | -33.9 |
| South America | 3,622 | -3.5 | 37,819 | -20.1 |
| Africa | 1,359 | 8.1 | 14,843 | -11.3 |
| Middle East | 1,392 | 6.9 | 16,591 | 3.5 |
| Asia | 67,563 | 1.1 | 776,330 | 3.8 |
| Oceania | 651 | -2.8 | 6,014 | -28.6 |
| Total 66 countries | 106,410 | -0.6 | 1,199,162 | -8.1 |
Source: WSA
Note: Monthly changes were calculated using statistics previously released by the WSA.
-XH