Global crude steel declined 5.1 per cent in May as China continues to drag the output. According to World Steel Association (worldsteel), production in 63 countries was down to 161.6 million tonnes (mt) against 169.9 mt in May 2022.
Top producer China produced 90.1 mt, a decline of 7.3 per cent compared with the year-ago period. China produced 92.6 mt in April, a decrease of 1.5 per cent over March 2022.
India reported a 3.2 per cent rise in production at 11.2 mt. Overall, for the January-May period, India’s steel output has gone up by 5.7 per cent at 56.4 mt.
US, Japan output slides
Steel production in Japan and the US dropped 2.3 per cent and 5.2 per cent to 6.9 mt and 7.6 mt, respectively. Russia’s production was pegged at 6.8 mt, up by 8.8 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y).
South Korea’s output decreased a tad by 0.1 per cent at 5.8 mt, while Germany’s production was up by 0.2 per cent at 3.2 mt. Brazil’s output slipped 5.5 per cent to 2.8 mt. On the other hand, Iran reported a hike of 8.8 per cent at 3.3 mt.
For the January-May period, production in the 63 nations that account for 97 per cent of world steel output was pegged at 786 mt, down 1.2 per cent. Besides India, China, Russia and Iran were the only countries to log an increase in output.