Economy
March 29, 2019
Global Steel Production: China to Decelerate?
Written by Peter Wright
Global steel production in February reached an annual rate of 1.647 billion metric tons (Mt). Capacity is calculated to be 2.4 billion Mt and capacity utilization in February was 73.0 percent, according to the latest Steel Market Update analysis of World Steel Association data. In three months through February, Chinese production grew by 8.8 percent year-over-year as the rest of the world contracted by 1.2 percent. China continues to increase its share of global steel production, which in February was at 51.7 percent.
Figure 1 shows annualized monthly production on three-month moving average (3MMA) basis and capacity utilization since February 2000. On a tons-per-day basis, production in February was 4.903 million Mt, down from an all-time high last June of 5.071 million Mt.
