World crude steel production for the 64 countries reporting to the World Steel Association (worldsteel) was 148.33-million tonnes in March – a 4% increase compared with production for March 2017.

Global crude steel production for the quarter ended March 31 also increased by 4.1% year-on-year to 426.55-million tonnes.

Asia produced 294.07-million tonnes of crude steel in the March quarter – an increase of 4.6% compared with the first quarter of 2017. China’s output for the three months increased by 5.4% year-on-year to 212.15-million tonnes.

The European Union (EU) produced 43.07-million tonnes of crude steel in the first quarter, up 0.9% compared with the first quarter of 2017.

North America’s crude steel production for the quarter was 29.49-million tonnes, which is an increase of 1.9% compared with the first quarter of 2017.

Africa’s crude steel output for the quarter increased by 9.1% year-on-year to 3.62-million tonnes, driven by a 15.6% year-on-year increase in Egypt’s production to 1.90-million tonnes. South Africa’s production for the quarter rose by 1.4% year-on-year to 1.60-million tonnes.

South Africa’s crude steel output for the month of March, however, decreased by 3.1% year-on-year to 527 000 t, while Egypt’s output rose by 23.1% year-on-year to 650 000 t.

China’s crude steel production for March was 73.98-million tonnes – an increase of 4.5% compared with March 2017.

India produced 9.23-million tonnes in March, a 5.3% year-on-year increase, while Japan’s production increased by 2.2% year-on-year to 9.08-million tonnes.

South Korea reported crude steel production of 6.1-million tonnes in March, an increase of 4.7% compared with March 2017.

Meanwhile, in the EU, Italy produced 2.3-million tonnes of crude steel in March – a 1% year-on-year increase, while France produced 1.4-million tonnes – a 1.5% year-on-year increase. Spain produced 1.3-million tonnes – a 4.1% year-on-year decrease.

Turkey’s crude steel production for March was 3.4-million tonnes, which is an increase of 7.6% compared with March 2017.

The US produced 7.3-million tonnes of crude steel in March, an increase of 5.3% compared with March 2017.

Brazil’s crude steel production for March was 3.1-million tonnes, up by 7.6% compared to March 2017.

The crude steel capacity utilisation ratio of the 64 countries stood at 74.5% in March – 2.2 percentage points higher than March 2017 and 0.9 percentage points higher than February.