Global steel production continued its steady climb from the lows it reached in late 2008 and early 2009, with China remaining the engine of that comeback, according to the August industry report from the World Steel Association, issued by the group on Monday.
In August, the 66 countries surveyed by the trade group produced 106.5 million metric tons. That's up 2.5% from the previous month, but still down 5.5% from August 2008. The picture becomes darker (if unsurprisingly so) if you tote up the year-to-date numbers and compare them to the same period in 2008. Worldwide, year-to-date steel production is off 22% from a year ago. And excluding the buoying factor of the Chinese steel industry, year-to-date output is down 39% from the first eight months of 2008.
The report offers insight into just how much China has focused on boosting its manufacturing via its vaunted stimulus package, and just how much China has become the world's great steelmaking nation. August marked the most steel -- 52.3 million metric tons -- the country has ever produced in a month.
China now makes almost as much steel as the rest of the world combined. Chinese steel production is up 22% from August 2008, while the rest of the world's output has shrunk by the same margin.
Japan and South Korea, two other leading steelmaking countries, also experienced a fairly strong August, with output rising 8.5% and 5.2% compared with July, respectively.
Source: The Street
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