World crude steel production in February rose 8.8% from the year-earlier month to 117 million metric tons, the World Steel Association reported March 21.
Global steel capacity utilization for the 64 countries reporting to the World Steel Association was up slightly over January at 82% from nearly 81% the previous month. The utilization ratio increased by 2.7 percentage points over February 2010.
China showed some of the most significant increases of major steel-producing countries with production rising 9.7% to 54.3 million metric tons of steel produced.
U.S. crude steel production increased 5.6% to 6.6 million metric tons.
Japan produced 8.9 million metric tons of crude steel in February 2011, an increase of 5.7% compared to the same month last year.
Germany's crude steel production for February 2011 was 3.7 million metric tons, up 7.9%.
