By Carolina Curiel

BEIJING (Scrap Monster): The monthly statistics released by the World Steel Association suggests notable increase in crude steel output by Asia, Africa and Middle East regions during the month of April this year. The output by the African region surged higher by 12.3% over the previous year. The production by the Middle East and Asian regions were up by 12.0% and 4.8% respectively, when matched with the previous year.

Asia

The total crude steel production by China during April this year was 72.777 Million tonnes, higher by nearly 5% when compared with the production of 69.393 Mt during April 2016. India produced 8.065 Million tonnes of crude steel, considerably up by 4.8% when compared to 7.694 Million tonnes production achieved during Apr ’16. Japan reported marginal jump of 3.0% in monthly crude steel output during April. Japan's crude steel output rose from 8.500 Million tonnes in Apr ‘16 to 8.752 Million tonnes in the same month this year. South Korean crude steel production edged lower by 2.9%. Pakistan and Thailand reported 69.3% and 16.2% increase in production respectively. Vietnam’s crude steel output climbed higher by nearly 110% over the year.

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

Note: Output in thousands of tonnes

Africa

Egypt produced 512,000 tonnes of crude steel, rising significantly by 45.2% when compared to 352,000 tonnes production achieved during Apr ‘16. Libya’s crude steel output dropped to 54,000 tonnes during the month of April 2017, when matched with 56,000 tonnes produced during the same month a year before. Morocco’s output soared by 36.3%. South African crude steel output decreased marginally by 8.8% to total 493,000 tonnes during the month.

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

Note: Output in thousands of tonnes 

Middle East

The total crude steel production by Iran during April 2017 was 1.735 Million tonnes, significantly higher by 15% in comparison with the Apr ’16 production of 1.509 Million tonnes. Qatar’s crude steel production has declined by nearly 12% from 211,000 tonnes to 186,000 tonnes over the year. Meantime, Saudi Arabia’s crude steel output has increased modestly by 6.4% over the previous year. The total crude steel production by the UAE during Apr ’17 was 299,000 tonnes, higher by 24.4% in comparison with the Apr ’16 production of 241,000 tonnes. 

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

  (Note: Output in thousands of tonnes)