Global Steel Production Records Tumbled in May

Production increased by 1.33 percent in May and for the first time exceeded 150 million metric tons, according to the latest Steel Market Update analysis of World Steel Association data. In three months through May, China grew by 7.7 percent year over year as the rest of the world grew by 3.3 percent. In 2018, China is increasing its share of global steel production, which now stands at an all-time high of 52.4 percent.

In 2017, total global steel production was 1.645 billion metric tons, up by 5.0 percent from 2016. In 12 months through May 2018, global production hit 1.719 billion metric tons, another all-time high. Production in the month of May totaled 154,856,000 metric tons, up from 147,894,000 in the month of April. Capacity utilization in May was 78.0 percent. The three-month moving averages (3MMA) that we prefer to use were 150,343,000 metric tons and 75.8 percent, respectively. May was the first month for the 3MMA of production to exceed 150 million metric tons. Figure 1 shows monthly production and capacity utilization since January 2000. May was the first time for the annualized rate (May x12) to exceed 1.8 billion metric tons. On a tons-per-day basis, production in May was 4.995 million metric tons with a 3MMA of 4.903 million metric tons. This was a record high on both counts. In December 2016, the OECD’s steel committee estimated that global capacity would increase by almost 58 million metric tons per year between 2016 and 2018 bringing the total to 2.43 billion tons. That forecast is coming to pass as capacity is now 2.4 billion tons.