World crude steel production grew by a mere 0.7 per cent in May to 131 million tonnes over the corresponding last year. India’s production grew by 3.9 per cent to 6.2 million tonnes in the same period, up from 5.9 million tonnes last year.
India is the fourth largest producer of steel after China, Japan and the US.
Production in China grew 2.5 per cent to 61.2 million tonnes compared with May 2011, while in Japan it rose 2 per cent. Among the top four producers, the US registered highest growth of 7.4 per cent for May at 7.66 million tonnes, according to the World Steel Association.
The overall production was mainly led by growth in North America at 6.2 per cent at 10.63 million tonnes, followed by Africa and West Asia at 3.4 per cent at 3 million tonnes and Asia with a 2.2 per cent rise at 84.4 million tonnes.
Europe, which continues to reel under the impact of the Euro-Zone crisis, registered negative growth of 5.5 per cent at 15.3 million tonnes. The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries faced a 2.9 per cent decline in output at 9.3 million tonnes. South American nations led by Brazil faced a 10 per cent drop in output at 3.99 million tonnes.
The average capacity utilisation for all the 62 producing countries slid to 79.6 per cent down in May from 81.3 per cent in April. Compared with the corresponding period last year, the capacity utilisation was lower by 1.4 percentage points.