According to the World Steel Association (WSA, worldsteel), in August 2019, 646 countries that submit their statistics to this organization produced 156.0 million tons of steel, 3.4% more than the same last year period. The average daily production volume amounted to 5.034 million tons, which is only 0.1% less than in July.

In just eight months, metallurgists in 64 countries produced 1239.5 million tons of steel. This is 4.6% more than in the same period a year ago.

However, the August data showed a sharp increase in contrasts in the industry. While in China, steel production growth rates amounted to 9.3% in August and 9.4% in the first eight months, in the rest of the world in January-August, 0.5% was produced less than in the previous year, and in August, the backlog from last year's schedule reached 3.1%. This is the worst figure since January 2016, and the average daily smelting outside of China fell to 2.219 million tons - the lowest level since September 2016 is almost 1 billion tons in annual terms.
Indian metallurgical companies smelted about 9.35 million tons of steel, which is 1.5% more than in the same month last year. According to the results of eight months, the growth amounted to 4.4%, up to 75.7 million tons.

The situation in East Asia has worsened. In August, steel production in Japan fell by 7.8% compared to the same month of 2018 to 8.12 million tons, and in South Korea - by 2.6%, to 5.94 million tons. For eight months, smelting in Korea was 0.2% more than a year earlier, and amounted to 48.43 million tons, but Japanese metallurgists reduced their rates by 3.7% to 67.59 million tons.

In the US, the growth rate in metallurgy fell to almost zero in August. That month, 7.50 million tons of steel were produced in the country, 0.3% more than a year earlier. According to the results of eight months, the smelting volume, however, reached 59.23 million tons, which is 4.1% less than in January-August 2018.

The European economy is in decline. In August, metallurgists smelted 11.45 million tons of steel in 28 (so far countries) of the EU, 2.2% less than in the same month last year, and for eight months - 109.1 million tons with a decrease of 2, 9%.

The fall in Turkey accelerated again. In August, 2.63 million tons of steel were produced there, which is 12.4% less than in the same month last year. Over eight months, production fell by 10.5% to 22.55 million tons. The situation in Brazil worsened at the end of the summer. According to the results of August - a decline of 13.4% to 2.52 million tons, of eight months - by 5.4% to 22.22 million tons.

According to WSA, Russian steel production also decreased by 4% compared to August 2018 to 5.9 million tons. The smelting volume for eight months is estimated at 48.26 million tons, 0.4% less than in same period last year. At the same time, Ukraine, due to the low base effect, achieved growth of 8.5% in August to 1.94 million tons and by 4.7% in eight months to 14.66 million tons.

The full text of the review can be found here.

 

Based on materials: metalinfo.ru