LAST BUT NOT LEAST — Crude steel output on rise

Developing countries produced 127.8 million tonnes of crude steel in 1993, up 9% from 1992, the International Iron and Steel Institute reports.

It was the first year in which global production in these countries totaled more than 100 million tonnes.

Steel production in market-based countries in 1993, at 504.6 million tonnes, broke a record set in 1989.

In contrast, total world steel production in 1993 was 726 million tonnes, compared with 786 million tonnes in 1989. The shortfall is attributed to the collapse in steel production in the former centrally planned economies.