World Steel Production in December

Steel

After three successive months of decline, world crude steel production expanded by 4.0% year-on-year in December to 152.1 Mt, the World Steel Association reports. Chinese crude steel production rose by 11.6% annually to 84.3 Mt, while output in the rest of the world contracted by 4.0% to 67.9 Mt.

Output in Asia, excluding China, decreased by 4.5% as production in Japan (-8.0% to 7.8 Mt), South Korea (-4.7% to 5.9 Mt) and India (-0.8% to 9.3 Mt) fell on an annual basis. There were also declines in output in the EU (-11.6% to 11.4 Mt) and the US (-0.3% to 7.5 Mt).