China’s crude steel production is continuing to grow, up 1% for August to 68.9 million tonnes, compared to August 2013. Elsewhere in Asia, Japan produced 9.3mt of crude steel last month, up 2.2%, India produced 7mt, an increase of 5.2%, while South Korea produced 5.3mt, up 8%, all on the same basis.

These are the latest monthly production figures collated by the World Steel association, which notes that across the globe the industry produced 1.4% more steel last month, or 135mt in total, compared to August 2013.

Regional comparisons show the major EU producers all reported falling output year-on-year. Germany produced 3.1mt of crude steel in August, a decrease of 1%, Spain produced 1.1mt, down by 0.4%, French output fell by a significant 9.1% to 1.1mt, while Italy produced 0.8% less, or 1mt.

Turkey’s crude steel production for August was 2.9mt, up by 13.9%, while Russia also produced 5.8% more, at 6.2mt. By far the largest y-on-y decline for a major producer is in Ukraine, which cut its August output by 37%, to 1.8mt, as fighting continued to hit the steel mills’ transport and energy supplies.

The US produced 7.7mt of crude, an increase of 2.9%, while Brazil’s crude steel production for August was 2.9mt, down -1.4% on August 2013, Kallanish notes.

• Meanwhile, capacity usage rates worldwide are continuing to fall, albeit at a slightly slower rate than in July. The crude capacity utilisation ratio for the 65 countries in August 2014 was 74.2%. This is 1.4 percentage points lower than in August 2013, while compared to July 2014, it is 1.2 percentage points lower. It compares with an April 2013 peak of 79.6%, and a December 2013 trough of 72.7%