Worldwide crude steel production hit 1.87mn mt last year, an increase of 3.4pc over 2018, led by growth in Asia and the Middle East.
According to the latest worldsteel data, Asia produced1.34mn mt of crude steel in 2019, an increase of 5.7pc over the previous year, with China producing 996mn mt—an 8.3pc rise over 2018. China’s share of global crude steel output grew from 50.9pc in 2018 to 53.3pc last year.
India’s crude steel output in 2019 totaled 111mn mt, up by 1.8pc from 2018, while Japan produced 99.3mn mt, a decrease of 4.8pc from 2018. South Korea’s production of 71.4pc was 1.4pc below 2018 levels.
Crude steel production in the EU decreased by 4.9pc to 159mn mt in 2019 from a year ago, with Germany producing 39.7mn mt, a 6.5pc decrease from 2018. Italian production, of 23.2mn mt, decreased by 5.2pc from the year before while Spain’s output of 13.6mn mt was 5.2pc below its 2018 production.
North American crude steel output totaled 120mn mt in 2019, 0.8pc below 2018. The US’s production of 87.9mn mt last year, however, rose by 1.5pc over 2018.
CIS countries produced 100mn mt of steel, marginally down by 0.5pc, Russia produced 71.6mn mt of crude steel last year, decreased 0.7pc from 2018 while Ukraine’s 20.8mn mt output was 1.2pc higher than 2018.
The Middle East, one of the two regions where output increased, produced a total of 41.2mn mt steel in 2019, 19.2pc higher than 2018. In the region, Iran produced 31.9mn of crude steel, a 30.1pc increase from 2018 with a further expectation of growth as the Mobarakeh Steel Company develops a second hot rolling mill, which will have a 4.5mn t (4.1mn mt) annual production capacity for hot-rolled coil.
South America’s 41.2mn mt of crude steel production last year decreased by 8.4pc from the previous year, while Brazil, at 32.2mn mt, also decreased by 9pc compared to 2018.
Turkish crude steel production in 2019 totaled 33.7mn mt, which decreased by 9.6pc from a year earlier, while Africa produced 2.3pc less crude steel in 2019 than the year before, which amounted to 17mn mt. Oceania’s output of 6.1mn mt was 2.9pc below 2018 levels.