Regional Crude Steel Production Ballooned 24% in Africa

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The African crude steel production recorded significant surge during April 2019. The output during the initial four months of the year ended significantly higher when compared with the corresponding period in 2018.

The crude steel production data released by the World Steel Association (worldsteel) indicates that African production totaled 1.359 million tonnes (Mt), considerably higher by 23.5% when matched with the previous year. The regional production had totaled only 1.101 Mt in April last year.

All countries in the region recorded increased production during the month. Egypt continued to remain as the largest steel producer in the region, producing 726,000 tonnes of crude steel. The Egyptian production accounted for more than 53% of the total regional production. The country’s monthly steel output surged higher by almost 18% over the previous year. The second largest producer- South Africa reported 18.5% year-on-year jump in output from 486,000 tonnes to 576,000 tonnes. Meantime, Libyan output totaled 57,000 tonnes during the month.

The cumulative output by the African region during the initial four-month period of the year totaled 5.190 Mt, significantly higher by 9.5% when compared with the output of 4.738 Mt during the corresponding period in 2018. The cumulative output by various countries is as follows: Egypt (2.840 Mt), South Africa (2.169 Mt) and Libya (180,000 tonnes).