Crude steel production rose 2.1% year on year in January to 154.4 million mt across the 64 countries reporting to the World Steel Association (worldsteel), according to the trade association.
In Asia, crude steel production in January rose 4.2% year on year to 111.4 million mt, with output in China increasing 7.2% compared with January 2019 to 84.3 million mt.
Elsewhere in Asia, India produced 9.3 million mt of crude steel in January, down 3.2% compared with January 2019. Japan produced 8.2 million mt of crude steel in January, down 1.3% on January 2019’s total. South Korea’s crude steel production was 5.8 million mt in January, a decrease of 8.0% compared with January 2019, according to worldsteel.
Europe registered a year-on-year output decrease of 12% to 12.29 million mt. In the EU, the largest European steel producer, Germany, saw its crude steel output slump 17.7% to 1.8 million mt. Italy produced 1.9 million mt of crude steel in January, down 4.9% compared with January 2019.
Bucking the trend in the EU, France produced 1.3 million mt of crude steel in January, a 4.5% increase compared with January 2019.
In North America, production slipped 1.4% to 10.23 million mt. The US produced 7.7 million mt of crude steel in January, an increase of 2.5% compared with January 2019, while Mexico’s output decreased 15.9% to 1.38 million mt.
In South America, production fell 10.6% year on year to 3.33 million mt, with Brazil’s crude steel output totaling 2.7 million mt, down 11.1% compared with January 2019.
Turkey’s crude steel production in January totaled 3.0 million mt, up 17.3% compared with the year-ago period.
CIS crude steel production dipped 1.2% year on year to 8.49 million mt. Crude steel production in Ukraine was 1.8 million mt last month, down 0.4% compared with January 2019.
African output slumped 18.4% to 1.03 million mt, while production in the Middle East jumped 29.5% to 3.84 million mt.
— Annalisa Villa, Len Griffin
