The World Steel Association (worldsteel) has reported global production by the 63 countries reporting to it, of 158.8-million tonnes in June.

This marked a 0.1% decrease in steel output compared with June last year.

Africa, with steel producers in Egypt, Libya, South Africa and Tunisia, accounted for 1.3-million tonnes of production in June, delivering 11.5% more volume than a year ago, while Asia and Oceania marginally increased output by 0.8% year-on-year to 119.7-million tonnes.

The Asia and Oceania countries that produce steel include Australia, China, India, Japan, Mongolia, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

The European Union countries produced 10.6-million tonnes, which was 11.1% lower compared with June last year. The remainder of European countries, including Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, the UK and Türkiye produced 3.7-million tonnes, which was also lower by 1.8% year-on-year.

The Middle East – Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – accounted for 4.2-million tonnes of global steel production, which is a 9.4% increase compared with June last year.

North America, with steel producers in Canada, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico and the US, produced 9.2-million tonnes of steel in June, down 0.5% year-on-year.

Russia, other Commonwealth of Independent State countries and Ukraine produced 6.8-million tonnes, which was a 5.2% increase on its output in June last year.   

South America’s 3.3-million tonnes of steel produced in June marked a 12.4% decrease year-on-year. Steel producers in South America include Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Colombia, Peru and Venezuela.

Notably, China increased its steel produced by 0.4% year-on-year in June to 91.1-million tonnes, while India’s steel production was up almost 13% year-on-year to 11.2-million tonnes.

Japan’s steel output decreased by 1.7% to 7.3-million tonnes in June, and the US noted a 0.5% uptick to 6.8-million tonnes of steel produced.

Russia is estimated to have produced 5.8-million tonnes in June, marking a 3.8% increase on June last year.

From January to June, the 63 countries reporting to worldsteel produced 943.9-million tonnes of steel, which is 1.1% lower year-on-year.