Top 6 crude steel making nations – PMI indicators for December’16

Published on Fri, 06 Jan 2017

Top 6 crude steel producing nations - China, Japan, India, US, Russia & South Korea, accounting for almost 76% share of estimated global crude steel production of 1.6 billion tonnes in 2016, have, all but South Korea & India, posted 50 PLUS PMI reading for December indicating overall improvement in manufacturing conditions although down MoM in China, Japan, US & Russia.

PMI reading above 50 indicates an overall improvement in manufacturing conditions and below 50 an overall decrease.

Commenting on the Russia Manufacturing PMI survey data, Samuel Agass, Economist at IHS Markit, which compiles the survey, said “Russia’s manufacturing upturn continued to gain momentum in December, as the sector saw the strongest improvement in business conditions for 69 months. A healthier labour market, substantial production growth and robust domestic demand fuelled economic growth and provided goods producers with the best possible end to 2016. Consequently, this month’s performance capped off the strongest quarter in over five-and-a-half years and was a far cry from the faltering start of the year. Employment returning to growth was a huge boost for the sector and rectified the main negative from November’s PMI data. In fact, job creation was the quickest since March 2011 and highlighted businesses’ intent on supporting this current uptick in demand. Yet with backlogs of work edging closer to stabilisation, firms may be reluctant to add to payrolls at a sharper pace at the beginning of 2017.”

Source : Strategic Research Institute