The World Steel Association (worldsteel) has reported that the global steel production was 148.3 million tons (Mt) in March 2018, a 4.0% increase compared to the same time period in 2017.
The world crude steel production was 426.6 Mt in the first three months of 2018, up by 4.1% compared to the same period in 2017. Asia produced 294.1 Mt of crude steel, an increase of 4.6% over the first quarter of 2017. The EU produced 43.1 Mt of crude steel in the first quarter of 2018, up by 0.9% compared to the same quarter of 2017. North Americas crude steel production in the first three months of 2018 was 29.5 Mt, an increase of 1.9% compared to the first quarter of 2017. The US produced 7.3 Mt of crude steel in March 2018, an increase of 5.3% compared to March 2017. Brazils crude steel production for March 2018 was 3.1 Mt, up by 7.6% on March 2017.
The crude steel capacity utilisation ratio of the 64 countries in March 2018 was 74.5%. This is 2.2 percentage points higher than March 2017. Compared to February 2018, it is 0.9 percentage points higher.