Asian crude steel output fell further in November on the continued cut back in output in China, according to World Steel Association data. Excluding China, output was also down month-on-month but was still growing strongly on-year, Kallanish notes.
Total Asian crude steel output totalled 97.748 million tonnes, down 15.62% year-on-year and 2.6% month-on-month in November. China, the region’s top producer, saw November production of crude steel hit 69.31mt, 3.17% lower m-o-m and slumping 22% on-year. China is seeing a slight rebound in output in December after it completed output reduction targets by the end of November.
Asia excluding China, meanwhile, saw crude steel output drop 1.2% m-o-m to 28.438mt, but this was largely down to the shorter month. Output was still up 5.4% y-o-y. Several countries continue to see stronger output due to the delayed recovery from Covid-19 in 2020 and the steady increase in installed capacity.
Second-largest regional producer India saw crude steel output fall 2.25% from October to 9.825mt. This was up 2.25% from last year. Meanwhile, Japan, the third-largest producer of crude steel, produced roughly 8.04mt, down 2.24% m-o-m but up 10.71% on-year.
South Korea’s steel production in November increased 2.42% m-o-m and 2.72% y-o-y to 5.922mt. Vietnam’s output was up 0.95% m-o-m and 6.72% y-o-y at 1.906mt. November production in Taiwan was 6.78% y-o-y but 3.08% lower on-month at 1.89mt.
January-November steel production across the region was 1.257 billion tonnes, up 1.11% y-o-y. China produced 944.855mt, down 2.84% y-o-y. Output in India increased 19.27% to 107.307mt.
Excluding China, Asia’s combined production was up 15.26% y-o-y across January-November, totalling 312.55mt. With production of 88.397mt, Japan was the third-largest producer of steel in Asia between January-November. This quantity was 16.84% more y-o-y. In South Korea and Vietnam, output over the opening 11 months rose by 5.56% and 20.41% respectively to 61.169mt and 17.929mt. January-November production in Taiwan totalled 21.052mt, up 10.5% y-o-y.
