Global crude steel production declined for the ninth consecutive month in March with the drop in Chinese output being the prime factor. India, on the other hand, witnessed a positive growth trend in March.
According to the World Steel Association (worldsteel) data, global steel production dipped by 5.8 per cent in March to 161 million tonnes (mt). Since July 2021, steel production has been slipping with China beginning to exhibit a negative trend since then.
Global production in the first quarter this year has been pegged at 456. 6 mt — a 6.8 per cent drop from the year-ago period. The last time production in the 64 countries that provide their data to worldsteel increased was in June 2021 by 11 per cent.
China’s has been the main drag in the output with production dropping by over 10 per cent in the quarter, worldsteel data showed. In March, its production dropped 6.4 per cent to 88.3 mt, and for the quarter it is 243.4 mt - lower by 10.5 per cent.
However, the Chinese output was higher than 83 mt and 81.7 mt in February and January, respectively. The Chinese problem could be attributed to the lockdowns it had imposed with the spread of the pandemic.
BusinessLine reported that Chinese steel production could be affected in March, too, as the Communist nation faced the worst phase of the pandemic in two years with the virus cases doubling.
China’s financial hub Shanghai continues to implement Covid-19 curbs strictly. Apart from Shanghai, 17 other provincial-level regions on the mainland have witnessed new Covid-19 cases, including the northeastern province of Jilin and Beijing.
Toppers in output
India’s steel production increased by 5.9 per cent respectively to 10.9 mt in March and to 31.9 mt in the quarter. Production in March was higher than 10.1 mt in February and 10.8 mt in January. In fact, it could be a record high with production being above 10 mt since December.
India’s production growth was second-highest in March, with Brazil topping the list. The South American nation’s output increased by 5.4 per cent to 3 mt, while being down 2.2 per cent for teh quarter at 8.5 mt.
Japan was the third-highest producer with its output pegged at 8 mt, though it was 4.3 per cent than the year-ago period. However, it was higher than in January and February.
The US produced 7 mt, the third-highest, though it was down 1.7 per cent year-on-year. It was higher than February but lower than January production.
For the quarter, Japan and US production slipped by 2.9 per cent and 0.4 per cent respectively.
Russian output
Despite its ongoing conflict with Ukraine, Russia was estimated to have produced 6.6 mt, down 1.7 per cent year-on-year. For the quarter, Kremlin’s output of 18.7 mt is assessed to be 1.2 per cent lower against the year-ago period.
South Korea produced 5.7 mt (-6.1%), while Germany and Turkey 3.3 mt each (-11.8% and -2.9% respectively).