Crude steel production across 64 countries dropped by 13pc to 137.1mn mt in April 2020 from April 2019, according to the World Steel Association (Worldsteel).
In Asia, India saw the highest drop in crude steel production, down by 65.2pc to 3.1mn mt in April compared to the same month in 2019. Japan saw the second steepest fall with a 23.5pc decline in output last month to 6.6mn mt compared to April 2019. However, production increased by 0.2pc in China to 85mn mt in April 2020 compared to the same period in 2019.
In the European Union, crude steel production in April fell by 22.9pc to 10.7mn mt compared to the same month last year. The US also witnessed a decline in crude steel production by 32.5pc to 5mn mt during the same period under comparison.
Brazil’s crude steel production decreased by 39pc to 1.8mn mt and Turkey’s crude steel output dropped by 26.3pc to 2.2mn mt in April 2020 compared to the same period last year.
Crude steel production in the CIS declined by 22.6pc to 6.5mn mt while Ukraine’s output dropped by 30.9pc to 1.4mn mt in April 2020 from April 2019.
The association indicated that the current data consisted of estimated numbers collected from most of the countries due to the pandemic and that it would release firm figures with next month’s data.