African Region Steel Output Dropped in September

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The African crude steel production recorded substantial decline during the month of September 2020, mainly driven by notable decline in output by South Africa and Libya. The regional output during the initial nine months of the current year too was down significantly.

The monthly crude steel production data published by the World Steel Association (worldsteel) indicates that African production dropped below 1 million tonne (mt) mark, totalling only 915,000 tonnes. This is down significantly by 14.0% from the previous year. The region had produced 1.064 Mt of crude steel in September last year.

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The production jump in Egypt was inadequate to offset the huge decline in output in South Africa and Libya. Egypt continued to remain as the largest steel producer in the region, with an estimated crude steel output of 601,000 tonnes of crude steel. The country accounted for over 65% of the total steel production by the region. The second largest producer- South Africa saw its output fall by nearly 40% over the year. The steel output by the country was down from 522,000 tonnes to 313,000 tonnes. Meantime, Libyan output tumbled by nearly 97% during the month.

The cumulative steel production by the African countries from January to September this year totalled 9.073 Mt, down by almost 16% upon comparison with the output of 10.814 Mt during Jan-Sep ‘19.