UNITED STATES August 17 2015 6:34 PM

LONDON (Scrap Register): MEPS International believes that worldwide crude steel output will be reported at 1.65 billion tons, this year. This equates to a decrease of 1 percent, compared with 2014. 

It is the first fall since 2009 - in the wake of the financial crash. Production gains in India and the European Union are likely to be outweighed by reductions in China, Japan, Ukraine and the United States.

Blast furnace iron making is forecast at 1175 million tons in 2015 - down 0.5 percent on the year earlier figure. Direct reduced iron production is also expected to slip marginally in the current twelve month period.