The crude steel output by world countries reporting to the World Steel Association (worldsteel) registered significant decline during the month of May 2020. The monthly production statistics suggests that output by 64 countries has dropped by nearly 8.7% over the previous year.
The world crude steel production totalled 148.775 million tonnes (Mt) in May this year, as compared with the output of 163.003 Mt a year before. China, Japan and India, in that order, continued to be the world’s largest steel producers. While Chinese output surged over the year, the other two countries reported sharp decline in production over the previous year. Among regions, all except Middle East and Other Europe posted reduced output.
The cumulative steel output during the first five months of 2020 totalled 728.715 Mt. This compares with the output of 768.683 Mt in Jan-May ’19.