Global Economic Analysis and News of Note: Global Steel Production Up 5 Percent Year-Over-Year
- According to the World Steel Association, global raw steel production fell one percent from March 2017 to April 2017, but rose five percent from April 2016 to April 2017. Global year-to-date steel production (from January 2017 to April 2017) was 550.84 million metric tons, 5.2 percent above total production from the January 2016 to April 2016 period. (These figures only represent carbon and carbon alloy steel production from 67 countries.) Chinese production increased 1.1. percent for the month and 4.9 percent year-over-year. Despite the increase in China’s production, IndustryWeek said, “Global raw steel production is stabilizing in China and other major regional markets, after several years of weak demand, though the April results halted the steady improvement of previous months.” Raw-steel capacity utilization for the 67 countries was up 1.7 percent from March 2017 and 2.5 percent from April 2016.