Despite Asia's financial crisis, China remained the world's leading steel producer last year, the U.N. Economic Commission for Europe has calculated. While economic hardships forced many Asian neighbors to slash production, China ranked first in steel output for the third straight year. China produced 114 million metric tons, up from 108 million tonnes in 1997.
The survey by UN-EC in Geneva says that global output of crude steel slipped to 778.2 million tonnes, down 2.5% from a record 798.5 million tonnes in 1997. Based on this data, U.S. output decreased for the first time since 1991, but the total was high enough to move past Japan into second place worldwide. That's because Japan suffered its worst production year since 1972. U.S. output was 97.5 million tonnes, down from 98.5 million tonnes in 1997, while Japanese production for 1998 dropped to 93.6 million tonnes from 104.5 million tons the year before.
Germany's production also dropped slightly but it moved into fourth place past Russia, which had a sharp decline. South Korea slipped to sixth, as its production also declined. Overall, the 15-nation European Union increased production by 1.1%, but Eastern European production dropped 6.3%. Asian output declined 2.8% and Latin American production dipped 1.5%. Here's the detail:
World crude steel production
(thousand metric tons)
1997 1998 % chng
WORLD
TOTAL 798,535 778,190 -2.5
AFRICA
TOTAL 10,290 9,649 -6.2
South Africa 8,230 7,709 -6.3
Others 2,060 1,940 -5.8
MIDDLE EAST
TOTAL 12,390 11,544 -6.8
Iran 6,320 5,559 -12.0
Egypt 2,720 2,875 5.7
Algeria 400 300 -25.0
Others 2,950 2,810 -4.7
ASIA
TOTAL 308,762 299,997 -2.8
China 107,897 114,000 5.7
Japan 104,545 93,550 -10.5
S. Korea 42,554 39,240 -7.8
India 23,745 23,852 0.5
Taiwan 15,871 16,975 7.0
Others 14,150 12,380 -12.5
NORTH AMERICA
TOTAL 113,944 113,300 -0.6
Canada 15,459 15,800 2.2
USA 98,485 97,500 -1.0
OTHER AMERICA
TOTAL 52,173 51,381 -1.5
1997 1998 % chng
Argentina 4,157 4,278 2.9
Brazil 26,153 25,900 -1.0
Mexico 14,254 14,077 -1.2
Venezuela 4,019 3,716 -7.5
Others 3,590 3,410 -5.0
OCEANIA
TOTAL 9,485 9,633 1.6
Australia 8,727 8,872 1.7
New Zealand 758 761 0.4
EUROPE
TOTAL 291,491 282,686 -3.0
EU 160,032 161,777 1.1
Austria 5,181 5,286 2.0
Belgium 10,784 11,600 7.6
Denmark 788 805 2.2
Finland 3,734 3,607 -3.4
France 19,767 20,436 3.4
Germany 45,007 44,800 -0.5
Greece 1,016 1,1251 0.7
Ireland 333 450 35.1
Italy 25,841 25,934 0.4
Luxembourg 2,580 2,546 -1.3
Netherlands 6,641 6,430 -3.2
Portugal 899 880 -2.1
Spain 13,786 14,860 7.8
Sweden 5,149 5,263 2.2
U.K. 18,526 17,755 -4.2
1997 1998 % chng
Other W. Eur. 17,442 17,390 -0.3
Norway 578 651 12.6
Switzerland 1,047 1,070 2.2
Turkey 14,225 14,053 -1.2
Bosnia and
Herzegovina 72 85 18.1
Croatia 69 100 44.9
Slovenia 426 405 -4.9
Yugoslavia 1,025 1,026 0.1
Eastern Europe 33,219 30,789 -7.3
Albania 22 22 0.0
Bulgaria 2,636 2,215 -16.0
Czech Rep. 6,750 6,500 -3.7
Hungary 1,690 1,815 7.4
Poland 11,591 10,400 -10.3
Romania 6,674 6,380 -4.4
Slovakia 3,856 3,457 -10.3
former USSR 80,798 72,730 -10.0
Azerbaijan 49 50 2.0
Belarus 1,219 1,297 6.4
Georgia 104 120 15.4
Kazakhstan 3,889 3,082 -20.8
Moldova 754 726 -3.7
Russia 48,502 43,600 -10.1
Ukraine 25,628 23,203 -9.5
Uzbekistan 353 352 -0.3
Latvia 300 300 0.0
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