Global crude steel output up 4% in February – Worldsteel

Total crude steel output across 64 major producer countries was 150.2 million tonnes in February 2021, down by 8% month on month but up by 4% from February 2020, the World Steel Association (Worldsteel) said on March 23.

Compared with February 2020, most regions reported a decline in crude steel output, led by North America (down 8.9%), the European Union (down 7.1%) and Africa (down 6.4%).

China – the world’s largest steelmaker – produced about 83 million tonnes in February 2021, up 10.9% from February 2020. Total crude steel output in South Korea was up 1.2% on a year-on-year basis at about 5.5 million tonnes in February.

Output in India was 9.1 million tonnes, a decline of 3.1%, while Japan’s output fell by 5.6% to 7.5 million tonnes.

Crude steel output for February 2021 in the 27 countries of the EU totaled 11.9 million tonnes, down by 7.1% from the same month in 2020, with output in Germany dropping by 10.4% year on year to about 3.1 million tonnes after four consecutive months of recovery. 

The United States continued to report the largest decline in crude steel output among the top-10 steelmaking countries, with February’s total down by 10.9% year on year at 6.3 million tonnes.

In the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), total crude steel output fell to 8 million tonnes in February 2021, down by 1.5% year on year. Meanwhile, Russia produced 5.7 million tonnes of steel, falling 1.3% compared with the same month last year.

Turkey’s crude steel production for February was 3 million tonnes, up by 3.4% on a yearly basis.

Brazil produced 2.8 million tonnes in February 2021, up by 3.8% year on year, while Iran was estimated to have produced 2.3 million tonnes over the same period, up by 11.5% from 2020 – the largest rate of increase among the top-10 steelmaking countries, Worldsteel said.

What to read next
The contrasting approaches to AI adoption in Asia’s energy tube and pipe industry are most visible when comparing China’s scale-driven transformation with Japan’s precision-focused strategy.
Fastmarkets is inviting feedback from the industry on the methodology for its audited steelmaking raw materials indices, as part of its announced annual methodology review process. The consultation, which is open until Friday March 27, seeks to ensure that our audited methodologies and price specifications continue to reflect the physical markets for steelmaking raw materials, […]
Lithium hydroxide production outside China continues to encounter operational hurdles and softer downstream demand, slowing the pace at which new capacity can achieve stable commercial output.
The publication of the affected price was delayed for 2 hours 36 minutes. The following assessment was published late: MB-LI-0043 Spodumene min 6% Li2O, contract price, cif China, $/tonne This price is a part of the Fastmarkets industrial minerals package. For more information or to provide feedback on the delayed publication of this price, or if […]
Mariana Minerals is aiming to reduce US lithium production costs by roughly 20% using software to manage plant operations, the company’s chief executive officer told Fastmarkets.
The erroneously published price assessments on Monday February 16 have been invalidated. Fastmarkets’ pricing database has been updated to reflect this change. The assessment was last published on February 2, and the next publication date will be March 2. The assessment follows the Chinese holiday calendar. The following assessments were affected:MB-FEN-0003 Ferro-nickel premium/discount, 26-32% Ni contained, […]