Economy
February 26, 2020
Global Steel Production Through January
Written by Peter Wright
If the coronavirus leads to a global pandemic, it will severely disrupt steel production.
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), the 3MMA for capacity utilization in January was 83.0 percent, down from 88.2 percent in May. On a tons-per-day basis, production in January was 4.932 million metric tons, down from June’s all-time high of 5.322 million metric tons.
