Steel Products Prices North America
May 19, 2015
Global Steel Production and Capacity Utilization in April 2015
Written by Peter Wright
Global steel production in 12 months through April totaled 1.624 billion tonnes with a capacity of 2.2 billion tonnes which yields a utilization for the 12 month period of 73.8 percent. China accounted for 50.9 percent of global production in April. Asia as a whole, including India, accounted for 68.4 percent.
Production in April on a tons/day basis was 4.52 million tonnes, up from 4.44 in March. This was the highest tons per day month since last June but the seasonal pattern evident since the recession is different in 2015. Total April production was 133,485 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, after which production kicks up rapidly (Figure 1).
