Steel Products Prices North America
April 21, 2015
Global Steel Production and Capacity Utilization in March 2015
Written by Peter Wright
Global steel production in 12 months through March totaled 1.626 billion tonnes with a capacity of 2.2 billion tonnes which yields a utilization for the 12 month period of 73.9 percent. China accounted for 50.3 percent of global production in March. Asia as a whole, including India, accounted for 68.3 percent of global production. Production in March on a tons/day basis was 4.45 million tonnes down from 4.56 in February. Total March production was 138,045 million tonnes.
If we look at the three month moving average and plot it over time, we see that there has been a significant decline in the second half of the year since, and including, 2010 which usually extends into February (Figure 1). This year the extension has continued into March and counting as on a y/y rolling 12 months basis 2015 is down by 1.7 percent. As production has increased each year since the recession, capacity utilization has decreased, the gap is widening.
