By our reckoning, China has produced over 11 times more steel in June 2009 than the US. Apparently their stimulus is working. We question whether their environmental laws are as effective.
China produced 266.6 million tonnes of crude steel in the first six months of 2009, this is 48.6% of total world production of 549 million tons, according to a report by the World Steel Association.
According to that association, for the month of June 2009, the US produced 4.4 million tonnes, down 46.9% from June 2008. China produced 49.4 million tonnes for June 2009, up 6% from June 2008’s 46.6 million tonnes. The Chinese crude steel production figure is 11.23 times the US Crude steel production reported by WSA.
Globally, the total steel production in the 66 countries tracked by WSA decreased 21.3% for the first six months of 2009 compared to same period 2008.
What does not seem to be working is any kind of environmental restraint: see the two page fact sheet on China Steel Industry Environmental Record here:
Or get the full report.
