World blast furnace iron output slumps 6% in February

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The monthly statistics released by the World Steel Association indicate that blast furnace iron production by world countries declined by 6.3% during February 2017. The production totaled 92.091 million tonnes (Mt) during the month, as compared with the production of 98.278 Mt during January this year. The cumulative BFI output during the initial two months of 2017 totaled 190.369 million tonnes. 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 71.774 Mt during the month, accounting for nearly 78.0% of the total world output. The output during the month dropped when matched with the output of 75.891 Mt in January ’17. The leading Asian BFI producers during February ’17 were China (55.573 Mt), Japan (6.224 Mt), India (5.220 Mt) and Taiwan (1.140 Mt). The cumulative production by Asian region totaled 147.665 Mt during the first two months of 2017.

The 28 countries of the European Union recorded an output of 7.385 Mt during February 2017, down significantly when matched with the output of 8.205 Mt output reported during the prior month. The top producers of the region were Germany (2.310 Mt), France (811,000 tonnes), Austria (488,000 tonnes), the UK (474,000 tonnes), the Netherlands (465,000 tonnes) and Italy (392,000 tonnes). The cumulative yearly BFI production by the EU-28 countries totaled 15.591 Mt during the first two months. The Other Europe region including countries such as Boznia-Herzegovina, Serbia and Turkey reported monthly and cumulative output of 1.006 Mt and 2.022 Mt respectively.

The CIS region reported BFI production totaling 6.190 Mt during the month. The output declined sharply when matched with the previous month output of 6.855 Mt. The leading BFI producer during the month was Russia with 4.045 Mt. The other key producers were Ukraine (1.835 Mt) and Kazakhstan (310,000 tonnes). The Jan-Feb ’17 output by the CIS region totaled 13.045 Mt.

The North American BFI output decreased marginally from 2.876 Mt in January ‘17 to 2.645 Mt in February ’16. The output by the US totaled 1.800 Mt, constituting nearly 68% of the total production by the region. The US production has declined by nearly 7% from 1.940 Mt in January. The other key BFI producing nations were Canada (500,000 tonnes) and Mexico (345,000 tonnes). The regional output during the initial two-month period of the year totaled 5.521 Mt. The cumulative output by the US during Jan-Feb ’17 totaled 3.740 Mt. The output by Canada and Mexico totaled 1.056 Mt and 726,000 t respectively.

Meantime, the blast furnace iron production by South America reduced marginally over the previous month to total 2.290 Mt in Feb ‘17. Among the countries in the region, Brazil produced 2.060 Mt during the month. The output by Brazil had totaled 2.278 Mt during the month prior to this. The other key BFI producers during the month were Argentina (164,000 tonnes), Chile (50,000 tonnes), Colombia (15,000 tonnes) and Paraguay (1,000 tonnes). The South American output during the first two months of 2017 totaled 4.814 Mt.

Oceania region’s BFI production too declined during February. The production totaled 330,000 tonnes, down considerably when compared with the production of 383,000 tonnes during January this year. The output by Australia recorded decline from 323,000 tonnes in January to 277,000 tonnes in February. Also, New Zealand’s output dropped from 60,000 tonnes to 53,000 tonnes over the previous month. The cumulative output during the initial two-month period of 2017 by the region totaled 713,000 t.