Economy
July 27, 2020
Global Steel Production Through September
Written by Peter Wright
Global crude steel production expanded for the first time since February in the three months through September. This data comes from the World Steel Association (WSA), which defines crude steel as, “steel in its first solid (or usable) form: ingots, semi-finished products (billets, blooms, slabs), and liquid steel for castings.”
Figure 1 shows annualized monthly global steel production on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis and capacity utilization since January 2000 based on the updated OECD capacity data. Capacity utilization in September on a 3MMA basis was 79.6 percent. On a tons-per-day basis, production in September was 5.212 million metric tons. Daily production has increased for five straight months and is approaching June 2019’s all-time high of 5.318 million metric tons.
