World crude steel production was 118.8 million metric tons in June, according to the International Iron and Steel Institute, which was 5.9% higher than the same month in 2007. Total world crude steel production was 696 million metric tons in the first half of 2008, a 5.7% increase over the same period in 2007.

Asia produced 68.3 million metric tons of crude steel in June compared to 62.8 million metric tons in June 2007, an 8.7% increase in crude steel production. China's crude steel production for June was 46.9 million metric tons, an increase of 10.2% from June 2007. In the first six months of 2008, China produced 263.2 million metric tons of crude steel, an increase of 9.6% compared to the 2007 same period. China poured 38% of the world steel supply in the first half of 2008.

Analyst Nate Carruthers in Chicago points out that China's average daily production came in at a record 1.56 million metric tons/day in June despite government efforts to slow production ahead of the Olympics. "This 5.4% increase from May was in line with seasonal increases over the past two years, but nevertheless was surprising," writes Carruthers of Michelle Applebaum Research. "While production cuts are not showing up in official statistics, it's clear that Beijing has forced a number of steelmakers to reduce production this month both to save power and also to clean the environment, so we expect to see production cuts show up in the data for July."

U.S. production was 8.2 million metric tons in June, a decline of 0.7% from the year-ago June. For the first half of 2008, the U.S. produced 50.8 million metric tons, or 4.7% more than in the first half of 2007. More importantly, U.S. production showed a 3.2% decline from May, which Carruthers says "may be a result of steelmakers taking maintenance outages during the month for sheet product production as demand seasonally slackens and facilities have been running flat out."

Meanwhile, in South America's manufacturing engine, Brazil poured 2.9 million metric tons in June, or 7.4% more than a year ago. For the first half of 2008, Brazil's steel production grew 6.9% to 17.4 million metric tons.

Total crude steel production in the 27-member European Union was 18.1 million metric tons, 1.8% higher than for June 2007. The largest producer in the EU is Germany, with 4.1 million metric tons of crude steel, an increase of 2.1% compared to the same month last year. The "other Europe" seven countries outside the EU produced 2.9 million metric tons in June, a year-on-year increase of 15.5%. Turkey's crude steel production was 2.5 million metric tons, which was 17.5% higher than last year. Turkey produced 10.6% more crude steel in the first six months of 2008 versus the same period last year.