China’s crude steel production for February 2015 was estimated at 65.0 Mt and the total production for January and February 2015 in China has been confirmed at 130.5 Mt. "

Elsewhere in Asia, Japan produced 8.4 Mt of crude steel in February 2015, a 0.2 percent decrease compared to February 2014, while in South Korea it was 5.1 Mt, down by 4.4 percent compared to the previous year.

In the EU, decreases were seen in crude steel production when compared to February 2014. In February 2015, Germany produced 3.5 Mt (1.6 percent decrease), Italy produced 2.0 Mt of crude steel (9.7 percent decrease), France produced 1.3 Mt (1.6 percent derease) and Spain produced 1.1 Mt of crude steel (4.4 percent decrease). Turkey’s crude steel production for February 2015 was 2.4 Mt, down by 12.2 percent from February 2014. In February 2015, Russia produced 5.7 Mt of crude steel, up by 5.6 percent from February 2014.Ukraine produced 1.6 Mt of crude steel, down by 33.2 percent compared to the same month in 2014.

The US produced 6.3 Mt of crude steel in February 2015, a decrease of 7.9 percent compared to February 2014.

Brazil’s crude steel production for February 2015 was 2.7 Mt, up by 2.3 percent from February 2014.

In other news, the crude steel capacity utilisation ratio for the 65 countries in February 2015 was 73.4 percent, 1.7 percentage points lower than February 2014. Compared to January 2015, it is 3.8 percentage points higher.