According to the latest data released by the World Steel Association (worldsteel) world’s crude steel production for March 2020 declined 6 percent.
Crude steel produced in the month of March was 147.1MT as per the data received from the 64 countries which report to world steel.
Worldsteel said that many of this month’s figures are estimates from national and regional associations because of the problems encountered due to the COVID-19 pandemic and may be revised with next month’s production update.
World crude steel production was 443 Mt in the first three months of 2020, decreased by 1.4 percent when compared to the same period in 2019.
Asia produced 315.2Mt of crude steel in Q1 2020, down 0.3 percent over Q1 2019. The EU produced 38.3Mt of crude steel in Q1 2020, decreased by 10.0 percent compared to the same quarter of 2019.
North America’s crude steel production during the first three months of 2020 was 29.5Mt, a decrease of 4.0 percent compared to Q1 2019.
China produced 79Mt of crude steel in March 2020, down 1.7 percent compared to last year. India estimates 8.7 Mt of crude steel production in March 2020, a decrease of 13.9 percent.
In Japan, it is estimated that 8.2Mt of crude steel was produced in March 2020, down 9.7 percent as compared to March 2019 whereas South Korea produced 5.8Mt of crude steel, a decrease by 7.9 percent.
Estimated crude steel production for Germany in March 2020 was 2.9Mt, down 20.9 percent compared to the same period last year, while Italy produced 1.4Mt, down 40.2percent compared to March 2019. France estimates 1.2Mt of crude steel production in March 2020, down 13.2 percent compared to March 2019. Crude steel produced in Spain was 1.2 Mt in March 2020, a decrease of 14.6 percent on last year’s figure.
The USA produced 7.2Mt of crude steel in March 2020, down 6 percent compared to March 2019.
The Russians estimate 5.9 Mt of crude steel production in March 2020, a decrease of 4.4 percent as compared to March 2019 while the Ukrainians produced 1.8Mt of crude steel in March 2020, a decrease of 10.3 percent compared to March 2019.
In Brazil, crude steel produced was 2.6Mt for March 2020, a decrease of 8.2 percent in March 2019.
In Turkey, crude steel production for March 2020 was 3.1Mt, an increase of 4.1 percent as compared to March 2019.
