Economy

WSA: Global Steel Production Increases 6.4 Percent in April

May 30, 2019

Crude steel production worldwide increased by 6.4 percent in April, compared with April 2018, totaling 156.7 million metric tons, reported the World Steel Association in Brussels. WSA members represent about 85 percent of global steel production.

China led the increase with crude steel production of 85 million tons, a jump of 12.7 percent from April last year. The percentage increase was almost as high in Ukraine, which reported 1.9 million tons of production.

The U.S. produced 7.4 million metric tons (8.2 million short tons) of crude steel last month, a 7.3 percent increase, according to WSA data.

Despite the tariffs that have limited Turkish exports to the U.S., Turkey’s crude steel production for April hit 3.0 million metric tons, up 2.6 percent on April 2018. Now that the Trump administration has halved the U.S. tariffs back to 25 percent, the market will be keeping a close watch on Turkish steel production and exports in the coming months.

Steel demand is clearly not as robust in other parts of the world. India and South Korea reported increases in production of 1.5 percent or less in April. Most of the other steel-producing nations saw single-digit declines including Italy, France, Spain and Brazil, WSA reported.