World crude steel production drops further during April '15

BRUSSELS (Scrap Monster): According to the most recent statistics published by the World Steel Association, the crude steel production by 65 member countries was 135.407 million tonnes (Mt) in April this year, down 1.7% upon comparison with production of 137.778 Mt during same month the previous year.

The total crude steel production by EU-28 countries during April this year was 14.387 Million tonnes (Mt), slightly up by 0.3% than the April 2014 production of 14.344 Mt. Other European countries produced 2.977 Million tonnes of crude steel, up 5.1% when compared to 2.834 Million tonnes production achieved during April 2014. The CIS countries’ crude steel production dropped by 4.7% from 9.086 Mt to 8.658 Mt. The total crude steel production by North America declined sharply by 7.5% from 9.812 Mt in April 2014 to 9.079 Mt in April this year.

The total crude steel production by South American region during April this year declined marginally by 0.1% to 3.786 Mt. African countries produced 1.212 Million tonnes of crude steel, 13.2% down when compared to 1.396 Million tonnes production achieved during April 2014. The total crude steel production by the Middle East countries during April this year was 2.272 Million tonnes(Mt), considerably lower by 7.7% when compared with the April 2014 output of 2.461 Mt. The Asian countries’ crude steel production dropped by 1.2% from 93.642 Mt to 92.547 Mt. The total crude steel production by Oceania region increased sharply by 18.2% from 0.413 Mt in April 2014 to 0.488 Mt in April this year.

The following table provides cumulative crude steel output for the first four months in 2015 in comparison with those during same period in 2014.

Note: The above outputs are in thousands of tonnes.