World BFI Output Recorded Notable Surge in October

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The latest monthly production statistics by the World Steel Association (worldsteel) denotes rebound in blast furnace iron (BFI) output after two straight months of decline. The world BFI output totaled 107.287 million tonnes (Mt) during the month of October this year, marginally higher by nearly 3% when compared with the prior month. The output had totaled 104.286 Mt in Sep ’18. Also, the combined output totaled 1.036 billion tonnes during the first ten months of 2018.

The Asian countries continued to remain as the key BFI producers. The regional production totaled 85.364 Mt, accounting for almost 80% of the total world output. China topped the list with production of 67.736 Mt. The Chinese output accounted for more than 79% of the regional production and over 63% of the global output. The Chinese output edged higher when compared with the output of 66.377 Mt during the prior month. The second largest producer in the region was Japan. The country reported stable production at around 6.3 Mt. In third place was India with 5.946 Mt.

The North American and South American BFI output totaled 3.010 Mt and 2.853 Mt respectively. The U.S. output totaled 2.1 Mt, whereas Canadian production totaled 530,000 tonnes. The EU region reported month-on-month surge in production from 7.038 Mt to 7.668 Mt. The production by the CIS region too was up from 6.087 Mt to 6.345 Mt.