World Steel Association: Blast furnace iron production dropped by 2% in June

By Paul Ploumis (ScrapMonster Author)

August 22, 2016 08:02:53 AM

SPOKANE (Scrap Monster): The monthly statistics released by the World Steel Association indicate that blast furnace iron production by world countries dropped 2% during June this year. The production totaled 97.536 million tonnes (Mt) during the month, as compared with the production of 99.472 Mt during May this year. The half-yearly BFI output totaled 572.161 Mt. It must be noted that the above information is based on the output recorded by 39 countries, which accounted for 99% of the world BFI production during the entire year 2015.

The BFI output by the Asian region totaled 76.073 Mt during the month, accounting for nearly 78% of the total world output. The output during the month declined when matched with the output of 77.450 Mt during May ’16. The leading Asian BFI producers during June this year were China (59.740 Mt), Japan (6.659 Mt), India (4.925 Mt) and South Korea (3.554 Mt). The cumulative production by Asian region totaled 444.073 Mt during the initial six-month period of the current year.

The 28 countries of the European Union recorded an output of 7.771 Mt during June this year, down from the 7.950 Mt output reported during the prior month. The top producers of the region were Germany (2.405 Mt), France (887,000 tonnes), Italy (503,000 tonnes) and Austria (477,000 tonnes). The six-month BFI production by the EU-28 countries totaled 46.290 Mt. Other European countries including Boznia-Herzegovina, Serbia and Turkey reported monthly and cumulative output of 1.062 Mt and 5.971 Mt respectively.

The North American BFI output dropped from 2.716 Mt in May ’16 to 2.630 Mt in June ’16. The output by the US totaled 1.850 Mt, constituting over 70% of the total production by the region. The US production had dropped by more than 3% from 1.908 Mt in May to 1.850 Mt in June. The other key BFI producing nations were Canada (470,000 tonnes) and Mexico (310,000 tonnes). The regional output during Jan-June ’16 totaled 16.660 Mt. The cumulative output by the US during the first half of the year totaled 11.583 Mt. The output by Canada and Mexico totaled 3.146 Mt and 1.932 Mt respectively.

The blast furnace iron production by South America too declined marginally over the previous month to total 2.301 Mt. Among the countries in the region, Brazil produced 2.030 Mt in June. The output by Brazil had totaled 2.090 Mt during the month prior to this. The other key BFI producers during the month were Argentina (187,000 tonnes), Chile (60,000 tonnes), Colombia (20,000 tonnes) and Paraguay (5,000 tonnes). The South American output during the first half of the year 2016 totaled 13.597 Mt.

Oceania region reported higher BFI production during June ’16. The production totaled 365,000 tonnes, marginally higher when compared with the production of 356,000 tonnes during May this year. The output by Australia recorded marginal rise from 295,000 tonnes in May to 306,000 tonnes in June. On the other hand, New Zealand’s output dropped from 62,000 tonnes to 59,000 tonnes over the previous month. The cumulative output during the initial six-month period of the year totaled 2.047 Mt.