Global Steel Production Up 10% but NAFTA Down/Imports Up

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas). World steel production in the first quarter of 2007 was up 10% year-on-year with Chinese production, representing 36% of the global total, up 22% over the same period.

Both IISB (Iron and Steel Statistics Bureau) and MEPS International record that NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) steel production fell in the period. ISSB reports production in the region in the first quarter fell 8% to 30.2 million tons, whilst the rest of the Americas saw a 4% year-on-year rise to 11.8 million tons in the period.

MEPS reports that crude steel production is forecast to decline in NAFTA in 2007 by 4.5 million tons (3.5%). While output in the US and Canada is likely to decrease, Mexican steel making should improve. In South America production for 2007 is estimated at 48.5 million tons which represents a year-on-year increase of 3.2 million tons (7%). Most of this increase is predicted to come from Brazil which has recovered from a difficult first half of 2006.

China’s first quarter production of 114 million tons was equal to the country’s total annual production in 1998. China was also a major contributor to a 13% increase in world trade in steel in 2006 matched by soaring US and EU 25 imports, says ISSB.

Looking at the full year of 2007, MEPS sees total world output hitting about 1.314 million tons which would represent an increase of 5.5% over 2006. Blast furnace production is forecast to reach in excess of 931 million tons representing a gain of more than 6.5%. This increase is the result of the integrated blast furnace/oxygen steelmaking route being preferred for many new installations. Direct reduced iron making is also expected to increase at a similar rate to blast furnace iron production from new capacity in the Middle East and Asia. But scrap metal based electric melting is likely to be the loser due to reduced availability of the raw material.

Total Asian production for the first quarter was up 16% at 173.3 million tons (China 110 million tons) which represented 55% of the global total. Production in the CIS (ex-Soviet) countries was up a healthy 10% to 31 million tons in the first quarter reports ISSB. Russian production was up 8% to 18.3 million tons. Europe was up 5% at 53.7 million tons for the period and Japan grew at the same rate with 29.5 million tons production for the quarter. In 2006 stainless steel production grew 17% to 28.4 million tons led by Asia with 15.1 million tons representing 53% of the global total. Chinese stainless steel production grew 68% to 5.3 million tons in 2006.

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