World Steel Association: Global Crude Steel Production Rises 4.9% in March
The World Steel Association released its March global crude steel production report, detailing global crude steel production rose 4.9% year over year.
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March 2019 production reached 155.0 million tons. For the first three months of the year, production reached 444.1 million tons, up 4.5% compared with the first quarter of 2018.
Asia produced 312.9 million tons of crude steel, marking a 7.0% increase over the first quarter of 2018. Elsewhere, E.U. production reached 42.3 million tons of crude steel in the first quarter of 2019, marking a 2.0% decrease. North American crude steel production in Q1 reached 30.7 million tons, up 4.0% year over year.
China’s crude steel production for March 2019 hit 80.3 million tons, up 10.0% year over year. China’s program of winter production cuts ran from November through March, but Reuters earlier this month reported the country’s top two steelmaking cities, Tangshan and Handan, announced they would extend the production cuts.
India produced 9.4 million tons of crude steel in March 2019, falling 1.0% from March 2018. Japan’s production hit 9.1 million tons, holding flat from March 2018. South Korea’s production rose 2.8% to 6.3 million tons.
In Europe, Italy’s crude steel production fell 0.3% to 2.3 million tons, while France’s rose 2.3% to 1.4 million tons. Spain also produced 1.4 million tons, good for an increase of 5.9%.
The U.S. produced 7.8 million tons of crude steel in March 2019, marking a 5.7% year-over-year increase. According to the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), the U.S.’s adjusted year-to-date production through April 20 hit 29.95 million net tons, at a capability utilization rate of 81.9%. Production during that aforementioned period was up 6.9% from the equivalent period in 2018, during which the capability utilization rate was 76.4%.
Ukraine’s production spiked 15%, up to 2.0 million tons, while Brazil’s fell 8.6% to 2.8 million tons.
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Turkey’s production continued to decline, falling 11.7% in March down to 3.0 million tons. Turkey has struggled with shrinking export markets in the face of the U.S.’s Section 232 tariffs and the E.U.’s steel safeguard measures passed earlier this year.
According to a release on the China Iron and Steel Association website, the president of the Turkish Steel Exporters’ Association Adnan Aslan recently said Turkish steel exports could decline to 15-16 million metric tons in 2019, down from 21.4 million metric tons in 2018. In addition, Aslan highlighted the importance of tapping into new markets for the Turkish steel sector, including Southeast Asia, West Africa and Latin America.
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