Crude Steel Output by Asian Region Surged 4.3% in March
Steel News | 2018-05-02 07:56:02
The Chinese output totaled 73.980 Mt during the month. The country accounted for over 72% of the regional output.
By Paul Ploumis
SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The March ’18 production statistics released by the World Steel Association (worldsteel) indicates that production by Asian countries surged higher significantly when compared with March last year.
The monthly steel production by Asian region totaled 102.190 million tonnes (Mt) in March this year, higher by 4.3% when compared with March 2017. The production had totaled only 97.979 Mt in March last year. The region produced 4.6% more crude steel during the initial quarter of the current year. The production climbed higher from 281.021 Mt in Q1 ’17 to 294.066 Mt in Q1 ’18.
The Chinese output totaled 73.980 Mt during the month. The country accounted for over 72% of the regional output. The country’s output surged higher by 4.5% over the previous year, despite government’s ongoing efforts to cut excess steel capacity in the country. India continued to remain as the second largest producer in the region. The output registered 5.3% year-on-year growth from 8.764 Mt to 9.227 Mt. The Japanese monthly output totaled 9.082 Mt when compared with 8.888 Mt during the previous year. The other key steel producing countries in the region were South Korea (6.095 Mt) and Taiwan (2.000 Mt).
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Pakistan recorded the highest jump in output. The estimated monthly production totaled 480,000 tonnes in March ’18, significantly higher by 13.2% when compared with the production of 424,000 tonnes during the same month last year. No country in the region reported negative growth in production. Taiwan’s output remained flat over the previous year.
The top four crude steel producing countries in Asia during Q1 2018 were China (212.152 Mt), India (26.689 Mt), Japan (26.403 Mt) and South Korea (17.802 Mt). These four countries accounted for over 96% of the total production of 294.066 Mt by the region. The output by Thailand alone dropped marginally by 1.3% during the quarter.
