Economy
December 4, 2019
Global Steel Production Contracted in October
Written by Peter Wright
Global steel production contracted in October for the first time since March 2016, according to Steel Market Update’s analysis of OECD and WSA data.
Figure 1 shows annualized monthly global steel production on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis and capacity utilization since January 2000. Based on OECD data (see below), capacity utilization in October on a 3MMA basis was 81.4 percent, down from 86.0 percent in June. On a tons-per-day basis, production in October was 4.887 million metric tons, down from June’s all-time high of 5.298 million metric tons.
