By Anil Mathews

BEIJING (Scrap Monster): The monthly production data published by the World Steel Association signals significant rise in crude steel output by Africa during May ’17. Meantime, output growth slowed in Asia and the Middle East region during the month. The output by the African region surged higher by 10.5% over the previous year. The production by the Middle East and Asian regions were up marginally by 0.7% and 2.4% respectively, upon comparison with the previous year.

Asia

The Chinese crude steel production during the month of May this year was 72.259 Million tonnes, slightly higher by 1.8% when compared with the production of 70.971 Mt during May last year. India’s production totaled 8.500 Million tonnes of crude steel, considerably up by 6.4% when compared to 7.989 Million tonnes production achieved during May ’16. Japan reported marginal jump of 0.1% in monthly crude steel output during May. Japan's crude steel output rose from 8.940 Million tonnes in May ‘16 to 8.951 Million tonnes in the same month this year. South Korean crude steel production declined by 2.7%. Pakistan and Thailand reported 92.3% and 11.7% increase in production respectively. Vietnam’s monthly crude steel output almost doubled over the previous year.

The table given below provides cumulative crude steel output for the initial five-month period of the current year in comparison with the previous year.

Note: Output in thousands of tonnes

Africa

Egypt’s crude steel production totaled 530,000 tonnes, considerably higher by 37.4% when compared to 386,000 tonnes production achieved during May last year. Libya’s crude steel output has dropped by 18% to 39,000 tonnes, when compared with the production of 48,000 tonnes during the same month a year before. Morocco’s output too declined by 7.7%. The crude steel output by South Africa decreased marginally by 3.5% to total 561,000 tonnes during the month.

The following table provides cumulative crude steel output for the first five months in 2017 in comparison with the corresponding period in 2016.

Note: Output in thousands of tonnes 

Middle East

Iran’s crude steel output surged higher by 8.8% during May to total 1.790 Million tonnes. The country’s output had totaled only 1.645 Million tonnes in May last year. The steel production by Qatar has declined by nearly 17% from 235,000 tonnes to 195,000 tonnes over the year. Meantime, Saudi Arabia’s crude steel output has tumbled by nearly 32% over the previous year. The total crude steel production by the UAE during May ’17 was 288,000 tonnes, higher by 29.2% in comparison with the May ’16 production of 223,000 tonnes. 

The following table provides cumulative crude steel output during Jan-May ’17 as compared with the corresponding five-month period in 2016.

  (Note: Output in thousands of tonnes)