Asia led all regions, producing 795.1 million metric tons of raw steel during the first three quarters of the year, 5.9 percent more than the same period in 2012. It is also the only region to see growth.

EU nations produced 4.2 percent less crude steel, totaling 123.8 million metric tons, while North American steelmakers produced 88.9 million metric tons, a drop of 4.1 percent from their January-September 2012 results. During the same period, the CIS region — Russia, Ukraine, and the other former Soviet republics — produced 81.5 million metric tons of crude steel, 3.4 percent less than 2012. Steel production in South America fell 1.2 percent to 34.8 million metric tons.

U.S. steelmakers produced 7.2 million metric tons last month, 2.2 percent less than August, but 6.3 percent more than September 2012. For the January-September period, U.S. producers’ total output was 65.2 million metric tons, 4 percent less than the first nine months of 2012.

China led all individual nations with 65.4 million metric tons of crude steel produced last month. This figure is down 1.3 percent from August, but up by 11 percent compared to September 2012. The world’s largest steelmaker has produced 587.4 million tons of crude steel through the first nine months of this year, 8 percent more than January-September 2012.

Japanese steel production rose 1.5 percent to 9.3 million metric tons last month, which represents a 5.5 percent increase over September 2012. South Korea’s steelmakers produced 5.2 million metric tons last month, up 5.6 percent from the previous month but down 8.7 percent from September 2012.

Germany led Europe’s steel producers with 3.6 million metric tons of output last month, 2 percent less than August, but 1.4 percent more than September 2012. The country’s year-to-date total is 1.3 percent less than during the January-September 2012 period.

Italian production of crude steel last month nearly doubled (95.8 percent) the volume produced in August — 2.1 million metric tons. The figure is still a drop of 10.4 percent compared to September 2012.

Capacity utilization for the 65 countries that contribute to WSA’s report was 79.3 percent last month, a 3.4 increase over August, and 2.1 percent greater than September 2012.