gui yong nian/Adobe Stock
Global steel production contracted in September, according to the most recent monthly data from the World Steel Association.
In September, steel production from the 64 countries reporting data to the World Steel Association totaled 151.5 million tons, down 0.3% on a year-over-year basis.
For the first nine months of the year, production reached 1,391.2 million tons, up 3.9% compared with the first nine months of 2018.
Asian production reached 1,000.1 million tons through the first nine months of the year, up 6.3% from the first nine months of 2019.
Production in the E.U. reached 122.5 million tons, down 2.8% compared with the first nine months of 2018.
North American crude steel production in the first nine months of 2019 increased 0.3% to 90.6 million tons, while the Commonwealth of Independent States produced 76.0 million tons, down by 0.1% year over year.
Meanwhile, China’s September 2019 production reached 82.8 million tons, up 2.2% compared to September 2018. September production marked a decline in terms of relative year-over-year growth, as August 2019 year-over-year growth registered at 9.3%.
India’s production reached 9.0 million tons, marking a 1.6% increase. Japan produced 8.0 million tons, decreasing 4.5% year over year. South Korea’s crude steel production hit 5.7 million tons in September, marking a 2.7% year-over-year decline.
In the E.U., Germany churned out 3.4 million tons of crude steel, which marked a 4.0% year-over-year decrease. Italy’s production increased 1.1% to 2.2 million tons. France’s production fell 10.2% to 1.2 million tons, while Spain’s production also hit 1.2 million tons (marking a 1.0% decline).
U.S. production totaled 7.1 million tons, down 2.5% year over year (although year-to-date production remains higher than for the same period in 2018).
Elsewhere, September production totals in Brazil, Turkey and Ukraine were down by 22.0%. 6.9% and 2.3%, respectively, on a year-over-year basis.