Belgium: Data from the World Steel Association shows that world crude steel production rose by 4.6% year-on-year to 882Mt in first half of 2018. The association gathers data from 64 countries. Growth was driven by increases in Asia, where crude steel production rose by 5.2% to 614Mt. Production rose by 1.6% to 87.3Mt in the European Union, by 2.4% to 59Mt in the US and by 2.8% to 50.5Mt in the Commonwealth of Independent States.