Crude Steel Output by Asia, Africa and the Middle East Witnessed Substantial Surge

BEIJING (Scrap Monster): The latest monthly crude steel production data released by the World Steel Association (worldsteel) indicates significant jump in crude steel production by Asia, Africa and Middle East regions during the month of October this year. The highest year-on-year jump of 19% was reported by Africa, followed by the Middle East with 18% growth in crude steel production. Asian output grew by 5.7% over the previous year.

Asia

The region’s biggest producer-China witnessed 6.1% jump in output during the month. The output by the country totaled 72.362 million tonnes (Mt) as compared with 68.228 Mt during the same month a year before. Vietnam’s output totaled 820,000 tons, significantly higher by over 75% over the previous year. Another country to report sharp jump in output was Pakistan. The country’s production climbed higher by 67% from 285,000 tons in October 2016 to 475,000 tons in October this year. Thailand too reported 15% surge in output over the previous year.

Meantime, Japan was the only country in the region to report negative growth. The Japanese crude steel output declined marginally to 8.971 Mt in October 2017. This is when compared with the output of 9.060 Mt in October last year.

The cumulative steel production during the first ten months through October in 2017 by Asian countries is as follows:- China (709.5 Mt), Japan (87.24 Mt), India (84.12 Mt), South Korea (57.0 Mt), Taiwan (18.07 Mt), Vietnam (4.2 Mt), Pakistan (2.9 Mt) and Thailand (3.2 Mt).

Africa

The African region recorded tremendous growth of 19% in monthly production during October. The region’s total production rose sharply from 999,000 tonnes in October last year to 1.188 Mt in October 2017. The leading producer in the region was South Africa with a production of 566,000 tons. The country’s output surged higher by nearly 6% over the previous year. The Egyptian steel output too increased by 31.4% to 585,000 t. Libyan output skyrocketed by over 93%.

The combined steel output by African region during the first ten-month period of the year totaled 11.083 Mt. The production by Egypt totaled 5.516 Mt. In second place was South Africa with 5.247 Mt. Meantime, output by Libya recorded 20% decline year-on-year to total 319,000 tonnes.

Middle East

The Middle East crude steel production totaled 2.973 Mt, 18% higher over the previous year. The region had produced only 2.519 Mt of crude steel during October last year. All major producing countries except the UAE witnessed rise in output during the month. The sharpest jump in output of 27.8% was reported by Qatar. Iran too reported 24.2% jump in output. The output by the UAE saw 5% decline.

The cumulative crude steel production by various countries during the initial ten months of 2017 are as follows:- Iran (17.901 Mt), Saudi Arabia (4.290 Mt), UAE (2.737 Mt) and Qatar (2.238 Mt).