A 1.7 per cent dip in Chinese steel production in August pulled down the global output of the alloy by one per cent to 123.733 million tonnes (MT).

India’s steel production for the month, however, remained in the positive terrain at 6.360 MT, showing a growth of 2.6 per cent over 6.199 MT in August last year, the World Steel Association (WSA) data has revealed.

Global steel production in August, 2011 was at 125.042 MT in which China’s contribution was no less than 59.691 MT. But, China’s production came down to 58.703 MT in August, 2012. Reasons for dip in production in China, which generally produces half of the world’s steel, could be attributed to its slowing economy.

The decline in China’s steel output has also impacted the overall Asian production, which saw de-growth of 0.5 per cent to 81.794 MT from 82.244 MT in the year ago period. Japan produced 9.2 MT steel in August, 2012 recording an increase of 3.3 per cent. South Korea’s production also grew by 2.8 per cent to 5.7 MT.

Production of steel in the European Union has also declined by 4.4 per cent to 12.196 MT from 12.761 MT in August, 2011. It was also down in Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) by 3.8 per cent to 9.107 MT.

Recording a growth of 1.8 per cent, Russia’s output was 5.8 MT while Ukraine clocked a 13 per cent decline at 2.7 MT. Steel production in the US saw a growth of 1.2 per cent to 7.5 MT. Brazil produced 2.8 MT steel, down by 6.2 per cent.

“The crude steel capacity utilisation ratio in August, 2012 declined to 75.5 per cent from 79.4 per cent in July 2012. Compared to August 2011, it is 3.2 percentage points lower,” the WSA said.