Steel: production affected by the Covid-19 pandemic
Global crude steel production decreased by 13 per cent in April 2020 to an estimated 137.1 million tonnes (mt) down from 156.7 million tonnes a year earlier, showed data from the World Steel Association (worldsteel) released recently.
Production for the 64 countries reporting to the Worldsteel fell 6.9 per cent from March to 137.1 mt in April. March steel production fell 6 per cent to 147.1 mt in the same month a year earlier.
“Due to the ongoing difficulties presented by the Covid-19 pandemic, many of this month’s (April) figures are estimates that may be revised with next month’s production update,” the global industry body said.
Major producer China’s crude steel production has started inching up, the data showed. The country’s steel output grew 7.6 per cent to 85 mt in April from a month earlier, to produce an year-on-year increase of just 0.2 per cent compared to April 2019, when it produced 84.87 mt, according to data from the report.
India’s production, on the other hand, declined 65.2 per cent to 3.1 mt in April 2020 as against 9.02 mt of crude steel during the same month a year ago. India had posted a 14 per cent decline in steel output at 8.65 mt in March as compared with 10.04 mt in March 2019, the report said.
Japanese production also dropped 23.5 per cent to 6.61 mt in April 2020 as against 8.64 mt in April 2019, the industry association’s data revealed. The US produced 5 mt in April, 32 per cent lower than 7.35 mt in the year-ago month, while production in the CIS was estimated to be 6.55 mt in April, down 22.6 per cent on April 2019.
Ukraine produced 1.4 mt of crude steel in April, down 30.9 per cent on April 2019, while Brazil produced 1.8 mt in April, down by 39 per cent. Turkey’s crude steel production for April 2020 was 2.2 mt, down by 26.3 per cent from April 2019. Production in the EU was estimated to be 10.729 mt in April, down 22.9 per cent from April 2019. In the EU, Germany estimated 3 mt of crude steel production in April 2020, down 10.7 per cent from April 2019. Italy’s production was down by 30.7 per cent at 1.35 mt.
