China produces 48.79 pct of global crude steel in July - WSA
Shanghai. August 21. INTERFAX-CHINA - China's crude steel output in July stood at 50.68 million tons, accounting for 48.79 percent of the world's total, according to a World Steel Association (WSA) announcement on Aug. 20.
China's crude steel output in July was 12.6 percent higher than that of the same month in 2008. The figure also marked the first time that China has produced over 50 million tons of crude steel in a month.
Overall, the 66 countries reporting to the WSA produced 103.86 million tons of crude steel in July, growing by 4.04 percent from the previous month but tumbling by 11.1 percent on an annual basis.
With the exception of the Middle East, all regions witnessed production increases on a monthly basis in July, with the most significant increase of 21.23 percent recorded in the South America region.
Meanwhile, global crude steel production in the first seven months of this year amounted to 652.90 million tons, dropping by 19.9 percent year-on-year. The most significant falls were seen in North America, Oceania and the European Union.
Asia, the world's largest crude steel producing region, produced 68.34 million tons of crude steel in July and 429 million tons during the first seven months of 2009.
The following table shows global crude steel output figures in July and the first seven months of 2009.
Global crude steel output, July and the first seven months of 2009
| Region | Output, Jul 2009 ('000 tons) | M-o-m change (%) | Output, Jan - Jul 2009 ('000 tons) | Y-o-y change (%) |
| European Union (27) | 11,244 | 0.68 | 73,495 | -42.1 |
| Non-EU European countries | 2,516 | 2.65 | 15,663 | -20.3 |
| CIS (6) | 8,341 | 7.00 | 53,466 | -30.7 |
| North America | 6,928 | 7.03 | 42,066 | -48.2 |
| South America | 3,477 | 21.23 | 19,373 | -33.3 |
| Africa | 1,244 | 2.39 | 8,380 | -21.6 |
| Middle East | 1,301 | -9.15 | 9,676 | 0.6 |
| Asia | 68,337 | 3.55 | 429,002 | -6.1 |
| Oceania | 473 | 10.77 | 2,777 | -45.6 |
| Total | 103,861 | 4.04 | 652,898 | -19.9 |
Source: WSA
Note: Monthly changes were calculated using the statistics previously released by the WSA.
-GD