Recent

Rolls-Royce
A Rolls-Royce AE1107C turboshaft engine.
Rivian
Rivian R1 e-SUV assembly, Normal, Illinois.
Mariusz Pietranek
ID 342142588 © Mariusz Pietranek | Dreamstime.com
US Navy
USN sailors aboard USS Spruance (DDG-111) guided-missile destroyer load ordnance into the ship’s forward vertical launch system (VLS) cells during training, Oct. 4, 2022. US Navy
CFM International
The CFM International Open Fan concept jet engine.
Fiber Materials Inc./Spirit AeroSystems
A carbon/carbon fiber component structure produced by Fiber Materials Inc.
Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Patriot anti-ICBM system.
Pavel Kapysh | Dreamstime
Company logo is visible on Boeing site.
Spirit AeroSystems
Fuselage assembly at Spirit AeroSystems, Wichita, Kansas.
  1. News

Global Steel Tonnage Barely Rising

March 25, 2020
February steel production totaled 143.3 million metric tons worldwide, a -5.0% drop from January's total and less than 3.0% more than a year ago, with YTD output essentially even with last year.

Steel production declined -4.91% worldwide from January to February 2020, totaling 143.3 million metric tons in the latest summary by the World Steel Assn. The new results hold a +2.8% edge over the February 2019 tonnage, and brings the two-month total for the current year to 293.9 million metric tons, which is just +1.0% higher than the January-February 2019 tonnage.

The World Steel Assn. represents steelmakers in 64 countries. "Raw steel" is the product of 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. The report cover carbon steel only; stainless and specialty steel producers comprise a separate market.

China’s raw steel production for February 2020 was estimated at 74.8 million metric tons metric tons, down -6.45% from January but up +4.97% compared to February 2019. (World Steel noted that the Chinese tonnage totals are estimates based on a combined total for January and February supplied by the China Iron and Steel Assn.) The two-month total for Chinese output in 2020 is 154.7 million metric tons, a 3.1% year-to-date increase.

Indian steelmakers produced 9.6 million metric tons of raw steel during February 2020, up +2.8% from January and +1.5% over February 2019. Even so, the 2020 YTD total for Indian raw-steel output is down slightly, -0.8%.

In Japan, raw-steel production totaled 7.9 million metric tons for February 2020, down -3.99% from January but up +2.2% versus February 2019. The country's YTD total is up +1.7%.

In the EU, raw-steel output across the 28-nation region totaled 12.28 million metric tons, down -9.0% from February 2019, and down -9.1% YTD. Among the major steelmaking nations in the EU, only Italy posted positive results for February, up 9.12% from January but essentially even (+0.10%) with the February 2019 result.

The Russian steel industry, now the world's fifth-largest based on annual production, reported 5.6 million metric tons of output during February, -6.4% from January and -2.3% from February 2019. They year-to-date total is 11.6 million metric tons, down -3.2% from 2019.

Raw steel production in Ukraine was 1.7 million metric tons last month, down -7.3% from January and up +1.2% over February 2019.

Turkey’s raw-steel production for February 2020 was 2.9 million metric tons metric tons, down -5.4% from January and up +8.2% over February 2019.

Brazilian steelmakers produced 2.7 million metric tons of raw steel during February, down -0.9% from January and -1.3% on February 2019.

The U.S. steel industry produced 7.17 million metric tons (7.9 million short tons) of raw steel during February, -6.38% less than during January but still +3.05% over the February 2019 total. For the current year to date, U.S. steelmakers have produced 14.8 million metric tons (16.3 million short tons) of raw steel, +2.4% more than during January-February 2019.