May data left crude steel output over January-May at 793.907mt, up just 0.09% y-o-y. Asia saw output in May rise 6.4% m-o-m and 1.7% y-o-y at 121.691mt, with China alone seeing increases of 8.1% m-o-m and 2.7% y-o-y to 92.86mt. Over January-May, Chinese output totalled 444.838mt, up 1.42% y-o-y.
India has had a weaker start to the year, but is catching up. May output was up 0.7% m-o-m and 3.5% y-o-y at 7.168mt, while year-to-date output was still down 7.17% at 57.483mt.
The European Union saw May output grow 2.9% m-o-m and 1.8% y-o-y to 11.665mt, while five-month output was up 0.07% at 56.114mt. Turkey is recovering more aggressively from its weak start to the year with increases of 14.9% m-o-m and 11.6% y-o-y to 3.213mt in May. This still left January-May output down 16.5% at 12.979mt.
North American steel output increased 4.7% m-o-m but was down 0.9% y-o-y at 9.383mt in May, and up 3.13% at 46.655mt over five months. In the Middle East steel output gained 2.9% m-o-m and 4.6% y-o-y to 5.216mt in May. But output was still down 7.11% at 22.267mt from January-May.
Russia and Ukraine have both seen production increase in May, although Ukrainian output remains significantly lower y-o-y. Russia produced 6.32mt of steel in May, up.3.4% m-o-m but down 0.9% y-o-y. Year-to-date output was up 2.55% at 31.663mt. Ukrainian steel output was up 3.2% m-o-m and 2.8% y-o-y at 737,637t in May. Over January-May this is still down 23.8% at 2.392mt.
