By AGENCIESGLOBAL steel output slipped in June as the industry grapples with weak demand and falling prices, data from an industry body showed on yesterday.
Crude steel production declined by 0.1% to 128-million tons in June, compared with the same month a year earlier, according to data from the World Steel Association (Worldsteel).
Global output has been slowing in recent months, from a 1.2% year-on-year growth in April to just a 0.7% growth in May, as a weak global economy erodes demand for raw material.
"We are expecting further cuts in line with slowing demand and also to try and support prices," said Jeremy Platt, analyst at steel consultancy MEPS.
"In the US and Europe producers are trying to implement price increases and something that will help that is production cuts especially in Europe because demand is still so poor."
Top producer China's crude steel output for June rose 0.6% year-on-year to 60.2-million tons, also a slower growth level compared with previous months.
"The Chinese have been struggling with weak prices and if they want to implement any kind of price rises they are going to have to slow back production. But we do expect some improvement in demand in China in the second half of the year," Platt said.
Global steel consumption growth will slow in 2012, hit by weaker economic growth in top consumer China and uncertainties about the debt crisis in the eurozone, Worldsteel forecast in April.
Output in Japan, the world's second-largest steelmaker, rose 3.5% compared with the same period a year ago, to 9.2-million tons while in the US production rose by 0.8% year-on-year to 7.3-million tons.
Weak demand and uncertainty about the region's debt crisis dragged output 5.4% lower in the European Union area to 14.7-million tons.
No comments:
Post a Comment