For the year-to-date, however, global raw-steel production is still slightly (-0.69 percent) below the January-October 2015 total.
World Steel Assn. tracks monthly raw-steel output and capacity utilization rates for 66 countries. Raw (or crude) steel is the output of basic oxygen furnaces and electric arc furnaces that is cast into semi-finished products, such as slabs, blooms, or billets. The World Steel Association reports tonnage and capacity utilization data for carbon and carbon alloy steel in 66 countries; data for production of stainless and specialty alloy steels are not included.
Recently World Steel issued a new short-range outlook for steel demand, and forecast that global steel demand will increase by 0.2 percent to 1.5 billion metric tons in 2016, having declined 3 percent in 2015. For 2017, World Steel forecasts that global steel demand will grow by 0.5 percent and will reach 1.51 billion metric tons.
As for capacity utilization, the association reports that during October it fell 0.6 percent from September to 69.6 percent. In October 2015, the global raw-steel capacity utilization was 68.2 percent.
