Global crude steel production totaled 152.8 million metric tons in July, down 4.7% year on year and 4.9% lower on the month, according to World Steel Association data published Aug. 22.
This brought total production for January-July to 1.1 billion metric tons, down 0.7% year on year, the data showed.
The largest producer China produced 82.9 MMt in July, down 9% year on year and 9.5% lower than June and making up 54.3% of the total volume. This brought the seven-month volume to 613.7 MMt, down 2.2% on the year.
The second largest steel producer, India, produced 12.3 MMt in July, up 6.8% year on year and 2.7% higher month on month, with January-July volume rising 7.2% on the year to 86.4 MMt.
Japan produced 7.1 MMt in July, down 3.8% year on year and 1.1% higher than June, with the seven-month total at 49.8 MMt, falling 2.8% year on year.
The US produced 6.9 MMt of crude steel in July, up 2.1% on the year and 4.7% higher on the month, while Russia was estimated to have produced 6.3 MMt, down 3.1% on the year, but climbing 3.35% from June.
In January-July, the US produced 46.9 MMt and Russia 43.1 MMt, down 1.8% and 3% year on year respectively.
South Korea produced 5.5 MMt in July, down 3.4% on the year, but up 7% on the month, taking the year-to-date total to 37.1 MMt, down 5.9% on the year.
Turkey produced 3.1 MMt, up 4% on the year, but edging 0.5% down month on month, with the seven-month volume up 14.9% at 21.7 MMt.
In July, Brazil produced 3.1 MMt, climbing 11.6% year on year and up 7.6% on the month, while Iran produced 1.8 MMt, falling 18.7% on the year and 32.3% lower than June.
Europe steel output up 5.7% on year
The European Union produced 10.8 MMt in July, up 5.7% on the year, but down 2.5% from June, with the January-July total up 1.5% on the year at 78 MMt.
The region’s largest steelmaker, Germany, saw July production at 3.1 MMt, which worldsteel said was up 4.8% year on year, but down 2.7% month on month, bringing the seven-month volume to 22.5 MMt, up 4.5% on the year.
This was corroborated by data from the German Steel Federation, which also reported crude steel output at 3.1 MMt in July, although it said this was up 6.3% year on year.
Of the total, 2.3 MMt was from blast furnaces, up 4% on the year, and 789,000 metric tons from electric arc furnaces, according to WV Stahl.
Its January-July volume was the same as worldsteel’s, with 15.8 MMt produced via BFs and 6.7 MMt via EAFs.
Germany’s production of hot rolled coils rose 2.5% on the year in July to 2.6 MMt, with the seven-month volume up 2.9% to 19.3 MMt, WV Stahl said.
“The slight upward movement in production in recent months, which is taking place from a low level, is anything but a reason to sound the all-clear. Rather, 2024 will also be a lost year for steel volumes,” German Steel Industry Association Managing Director and Chief Economist Martin Theuringer said in an Aug. 22 statement accompanying the German data.
“This is because concerns about a recession have increased across the economy. Many important steel processing industries and thus also steel demand are still in reverse gear,” he said, adding that import pressure continues to rise across Europe and any hopes for an economic recovery had been postponed to 2025.
Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, assessed domestic HRC prices in Northern Europe at Eur595/mt ex-works Ruhr Aug. 21, down 13.8% since the start of 2024.
Crude steel data covers the 71 countries that report to worldsteel, accounting for about 85% of the world’s crude steel production.
Meanwhile, global production of pig iron from 37 countries was 106.6 MMt in July, down 5.5% year on year, with the January-July total down 2.5% on the year to 752.3 MMt, the data showed.
Direct reduced iron produced in 13 countries was 10.6 MMt in July, up 2.4% year on year, with the seven-month total at 72.4 MMt, up 6.5% year on year, according to worldsteel.
Jacqueline Holman
