Global steel output to grow 5 percent: OECD

Global steel production should grow five percent in 2005 and 3.5 percent in 2006, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said Wednesday. Initial estimates showed that 1.05 billion tonnes of steel were forged in 2004, 8.7 percent more than in 2003, OECD economist Franco Manatto said during a high-level meeting on steel, organised by the OECD and the International Iron and Steel Institute.
China churned out 26 percent of steel produced in the world last year with 270 million tonnes, marking a 22.5 percent jump from 2003.
The European OECD member countries accounted for 20 percent of global steel production, the United States and Canada 13 percent, and the Asian members of the OECD 16 percent.