Global steel production ends 2020 on a good note

World crude steel production continued to grow in December 2020. The monthly production statistics released by the World Steel Association (worldsteel) indicate a 5.8% increase in production from the same month a year earlier. Production in December 2020 in the 64 countries represented by the Association was 160.858 Mt (Mt), compared with a production of 151.969 Mt in December 2019.

Production in the Asian region increased by 6.0% in December 2020, mainly driven by a 7.7% year-on-year increase in production in China. Steel production in the Middle East increased by 2.8% despite notable declines in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Steel production in Africa increased 45.5% over the previous year. US production fell significantly by 11.8%, which in turn resulted in a 7.1% drop in production in the North American region.

Meanwhile, production in South America posted a notable 16.3% year-on-year growth. The CIS and EU-28 regions also saw production growth of 3.1% and 10.2%, respectively. In addition, production in the Other Europe region increased by 15.3%. Production in the Oceania region increased by 5.2% compared to December 2019.

Total global steel production for all of 2020 was 1.829 billion tonnes, up 0.9% from the previous year. In 2019, production was 1.846 billion tonnes.