Global crude steel production totaled 143.6 million mt in September, dropping 4.7% year over year and 0.7% from August, according to World Steel Association data published Oct. 22.
This brought total production for the first nine months of 2024 to 1.4 billion mt, down 1.9% year over year.
China produced 77.1 million mt in September, falling 6.1% from a year earlier and down 1.1% from August, making up 53.7% of total global crude steel output.
This brought China’s January-September volume to 768.5 million mt, down 3.6% year over year.
The world’s second-largest steel producer India saw production edge 0.2% lower year over year in September to 11.7 million mt, which was also down 4.6% month over month, the data showed.
India’s cumulative January-September output rose 5.8% to 110.3 million mt, according to worldsteel.
Japan’s September production was 6.6 million mt, down 5.8% year over year and 3.6% from August, with January-September output down 3.2% year over year at 63.3 million mt.
US output in September was 6.7 million mt, up 1.2% year over year and down 4.1% month over month, taking January-September production to 60.3 million mt, down 1.6% from the previous year.
Russia was estimated to have produced 5.6 million mt in September, down 10.3% year over year and 2.8% from August, bringing its estimated January-September output to 54 million mt, a decline of 5.5% from the previous year.
South Korea produced 5.5 million mt of crude steel in September, up 1.3% year over year and steady from August, with the nine-month volume down 4.6% from the prior year at 48.1 million mt.
Europe Jan-Sep output up 0.3%
For the European Union, crude steel production rose 0.3% year over year and 14.5% month over month to 10.5 million mt in September, the data showed.
The EU’s January-September volume was 97.8 million mt, climbing 1.5% year over year.
Germany, the largest steel producer in Europe, saw its crude steel production rise 4.3% year over year to 3 million mt, which was also 3.9% higher from August.
In January-September, Germany produced 28.4 million mt of crude steel, up 4% year over year, the data showed.
Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, assessed domestic HRC prices in Northern Europe at Eur555/mt ex-works Ruhr Oct. 21, down 20% since the start of 2024.
Turkey produced 3.1 million mt in September, rising 6.5% year over year but falling 1.8% month over month, according to the data. Turkey’s nine-month production was up 13.8% year over year at 27.9 million mt.
Of the top 10 producers, Brazil saw the largest gains in September, with production rising 9.9% year over year to 2.8 million mt, but falling 4.1% from August. Brazil’s January-September estimated production rose 4.4% year over year to 25.2 million mt.
Iran’s estimated monthly output was 1.5 million mt, falling 41.2% year over year but rising 9.65% from the previous month. Its output for the nine-month period fell 3.1% to 21.3 million mt.
Crude steel data covers the 71 countries that report to worldsteel, accounting for about 98% of the world’s crude steel production.
September production of pig iron from 37 countries was 99.8 million mt, falling 5.7% year over year and 3.21% from August, the data showed, while direct reduced iron produced worldwide from 13 countries amounted to 10.2 million mt, down 2.4% year over year and 1.2% lower from the previous month, the data showed.
Pig iron output over January-September totaled 954.5 million mt, down 3.3% year over year, while DRI production for the period rose 4.2% year over year to 92.3 million mt.
