Global steel production dropped to 155.7 million metric tons to start Q2 2025, down -6.7% from March to April. Still, the new total is nearly even with the April 2024 (-0.3%) result, and the year-to-date (January-April 2025) is likewise on par (-0.4%) with the comparable figure for last year.
Steel production worldwide continues to face weak demand, and steelmakers in most industrialized regions continue to restrain any surplus tonnage that may weaken prices, continuing a multi-year trend. In each of the top 10 steelmaking countries reporting to the World Steel Assn., the results for April were flat or lower than March 2025, and mostly lower than the April 2024 totals.
World Steel reports monthly data for raw steel production regionally and in 69 nations. The data documents carbon steel produced in basic-oxygen or electric arc furnaces and cast into semi-finished forms like billets for bar and rod products; slabs for flat products; or blooms, for beam and pipe products. Specialty and stainless steel volumes are not included.
The month-to-month decline recorded for April is mainly the effect of markedly lower output reported for China. With 86.0 million metric tons posted for the latest month, China’s raw-steel tonnage dropped -7.9% from March and was merely even with the April 2024 total. Now, with 345.4 million metric tons produced for the year-to-date, China’s 2025 raw steel output is slightly higher (0.4%) than the January-April 2024 result.
Indian raw-steel production also dropped from March to April, down -7.0% to 12.9 million metric tons. However, that figure is 5.6% higher than India’s April 2024 total and the YTD total is 6.9% higher than last year’s four-month result.
Japanese steelmakers produced 6.6 million metric tons of raw steel during April, or -9.1% less than in March and -6.4% less than in April 2024. The January-April output for Japan is 27 million metric tons, which is -5.3% less than last year’s comparable figure.
In the U.S., April raw-steel production showed no effect of the 25% tariff on imported steel products implemented in March – instead falling to 6.6 million metric tons (7.3 million short tons.) The new U.S. monthly total is down -1.5% versus the March figure and barely even (-0.3%) with the April 2024 total. With 26.4 million metric tons (29.1 million short tons) produced from January through April, there is no change from last year’s four-month total.
April steel output in Russia was 5.8 million metric tons, -6.9% less than during March and -5.1% less than during April 2024. Russian steelmakers’ 23.4 million metric tons produced for the year to-date -4.5% less than the comparable total for last year.
In South Korea, April raw steel production remained unchanged from March at 5.0 million metric tons, but that figure is -2.5% lower than last April’s total. It raises the four-month production total for South Korean raw-steel output at 20.5 million metric tons, -1.0% lower than the January-April 2024 total.
The 27 nations comprising the European Union produced 11.1 million metric tons of raw steel during April, -2.6% less than April 2024. It has produced 43.5 million metric tons during the current year, -2.4% less than last year’s first four months.
That EU figure includes the output by German steelmakers, whose 3.0 million metric tons produced in April were -11.5% less than in March and -3.1% less than in April 2024. German steel output for January-April 2025 stands at 11.4 million metric tons, -11.9% less than last year’s comparable figure.
