World Produced 1.24 Million Metric Tons of Crude Steel in '06

World Produced 1.24 Million Metric Tons of Crude Steel in '06 The International Iron and Steel Institute (IISI) has announced that world crude steel output reached 1,239.5 million metric tons for the year 2006. This is an increase of 8.8 percent on 2005. The total represents the highest level of crude steel output in history. 2006 is also the third consecutive year in which crude steel output has been above 1 billion tons. 2006 production is 65.3 percent above the total production for the world 10 years ago. It is also 45.7 percent above the total five years ago. However, over the past 10 years the most remarkable growth has been in China and the Asia region. In 1996, China produced 101.2 mmt of crude steel. By 2001, this had risen to 150.9 mmt, an increase of 49.1 percent. In 2006, China produced 418.8 mmt of crude steel, an increase of 313.8 percent in just 10 years. China¡¯s share of world crude steel production has also increased exponentially. In 1996, China became the largest steel producing country in the world for the first time, accounting for just 13.5 percent of production. In 2006, this share had risen to 33.8 percent, just above one third of all crude steel produced in the world. Ten years ago, the Asia region accounted for 38.4 percent of all crude steel produced. By 2001, this percentage had risen to 41.6 percent. In 2006, the Asia region accounted for 53.7 percent of world crude steel production.