In February, world crude steel production declined by nearly 5% to 123.3 million tonnes, according to the World Steel Association.

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The year before China joined the WTO, the United States and China each produced about 100 million tons of crude steel.

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Corus said it expected to produce about 30% less crude steel than planned during the two quarters to the end of March 2009.

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Last month, Corus said it would cut production between October and December by a million tonnes of crude steel - about 20% of its output.

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By adding more production in North America (AmeriSteel has production capacity of 1.8 million metric tons of crude steel annually), notes Peruzzi, Gerdau now has more stable, dollar-based revenues and earnings.

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In the last 19 years Gerdau has acquired and built out operations in Argentina, Canada, Chile, Uruguay and, most recently, the U.S. About 40% of the group's 7.2 million metric tons of annual crude steel production capacity is now outside Brazil.

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The economic plan is reflected in the rising prevalence of such goods in the trade balance: In the first quarter of 2011, mechanical and electronic products took up 43 percent of total import value and high-tech goods took up 26 percent entirely different from the 2004 deficit, in which the primary imports by value were crude oil, steel and plastics.

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As in most oil states, Iraq's idea is to channel the crude oil wealth into the creation of refineries, steel mills, agriculture, cement factories, as well as sundry infrastructural programs--schools, hospitals, roads and the like.

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