Global Blast Furnace Iron output rises marginally in Oct

By Paul Ploumis

ALBANY (Scrap Monster): The monthly statistics released by the World Steel Association indicate that blast furnace iron production by world countries increased marginally by less than 1% during October this year. The production totaled 97.992 million tonnes (Mt) during the month, as compared with the production of 97.136 Mt during September this year. The cumulative BFI output during the initial ten months of the current year totaled 970.033 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 76.286 Mt during the month, accounting for nearly 78% of the total world output. The output during the month dropped slightly when matched with the output of 76.346 Mt during September ’16. The leading Asian BFI producers during October this year were China (58.760 Mt), Japan (6.779 Mt), India (5.494 Mt) and South Korea (3.963 Mt). The cumulative production by Asian region totaled 756.658 Mt during the initial ten-month period of the current year.

The 28 countries of the European Union recorded an output of 7.555 Mt during October this year, up considerably when matched with the output of 7.365 Mt output reported during the prior month. The top producers of the region were Germany (2.170 Mt), France (900,000 tonnes), the Netherlands (543,000 tonnes) and the U.K (537,000 tonnes). The ten-month cumulative BFI production by the EU-28 countries totaled 76.451 Mt. Other European countries including Boznia-Herzegovina, Serbia and Turkey reported monthly and cumulative output of 1.013 Mt and 10.132 Mt respectively.

The CIS region reported BFI production totaling 7.000 Mt during the month. The output increased modestly when matched with the previous month output of 6.510 Mt. The leading BFI producer during the month was Russia with 4.610 Mt. The other key producers were Ukraine (2.080 Mt) and Kazakhstan (310,000 tonnes). The Jan-Oct ’16 production by the CIS region totaled 66.410 Mt.

The North American BFI output increased marginally from 2.636 Mt in September ’16 to 2.695 Mt in October ’16. The output by the US totaled 1.800 Mt, constituting nearly 67% of the total production by the region. The US production has increased marginally by 1.6% from 1.771 Mt in September to 1.800 Mt in October. The other key BFI producing nations were Canada (480,000 tonnes) and Mexico (415,000 tonnes). The regional output during Jan-October ’16 totaled 27.850 Mt. The cumulative output by the US during the first ten months of the year totaled 19.003 Mt. The output by Canada and Mexico totaled 5.198 Mt and 3.648 Mt respectively.

Meantime, the blast furnace iron production by South America increased marginally over the previous month to total 2.502 Mt in Oct ‘16. Among the countries in the region, Brazil produced 2.234 Mt during the month. The output by Brazil had totaled 2.080 Mt during the month prior to this. The other key BFI producers during the month were Argentina (183,000 tonnes), Chile (60,000 tonnes), Colombia (20,000 tonnes) and Paraguay (5,000 tonnes). The South American region’s blast furnace iron output during the first ten months of the year 2016 totaled 23.351 Mt.

Oceania region reported marginally lower BFI production during October this year. The production totaled 373,000 tonnes, down marginally when compared with the production of 386,000 tonnes during September this year. The output by Australia remained more or less flat at 332,000 tonnes in October as against the output of 333,000 tonnes recorded during the prior month. On the other hand, New Zealand’s output declined sharply from 54,000 tonnes to 41,000 tonnes over the previous month. The cumulative output during the initial ten-month period of the year by the region totaled 3.558 Mt.