NEW YORK: World steel production shed 2.8 percent last year to 1.62 billion tons after five years of growth, with China now producing just under half of the total, the World Steel Association said yesterday.
China, easily the world’s largest consumer and producer, last year produced 803.8 million tons, down 2.3 percent on 2014, though its actual share of world output rose 0.2 percentage points to 49.5 percent.
“Crude steel production decreased in all regions except Oceania in 2015,” the WSA said following the first overall annual drop since 2009, when overall output stood at 1.24 billion tons.
Last October, the WSA had initially forecast a 1.7 percent rise in world demand for 2015, followed by a 0.7 percent rise this year.
Its next forecasts are due in April. The WSA estimates it represents some 85 percent of world production.
Japan, the world’s second-largest producer, saw 2015 output slide 5 percent to 105.2 million tons.
Indian production rose 2.3 percent to 83.2 million tons, propelling it to No. 3 globally while South Korea fell 2.6 percent to 69.7 million tons.
Asia overall saw output fall 2.3 percent to 1.11 billion tons.
Last year saw European Union states produce 166.2 million tons of crude steel, down 1.8 percent on 2014. Germany dipped just 0.6 percent — No. 5 producer Russia, a non-EU member, likewise fell just 0.5 percent — but Italy and France slumped 7 percent.
Spain produced 14.9 million tons in 2015, up 4.4 percent.
North American output fell 8.6 percent to 110.7 million tons, with output in fourth-largest producer, the US, off 10.5 percent to 78.9 million tons.
