The world crude steel production by the 64 countries reporting to the World Steel Association (worldsteel) totalled 315.0 million tonnes (Mt) during the initial two-month period of the current year. This is higher by 6.6% when compared with the production during the corresponding two-month period in 2020.

The largest regional producer of steel during the period was Asia and Oceania region, which recorded a cumulative output of approximately 230.8 Mt. The region accounted for over 73% of the total global production. The regional output surged higher by 10.1% over the previous year. The second largest producer was the block of EU-27 countries, whose output recorded notable year-on-year decline by 3.7% to 24.1 Mt. In third place was North America with a production of 18.5 Mt. The year-to-date production posted sharp decline by 7.1% over Jan-Feb ‘20.

The CIS region recorded marginal decline by 0.4% in output to 16.8 Mt. The South American output, at 7.3 Mt, was up marginally by 6.6%, when matched with the previous year. The Middle East output was slightly higher by 0.4% to 6.8 Mt. Meanwhile, the African countries witnessed 6.9% decline in output to 2.4 Mt during January to February this year.

It must be noted that the 64 countries included in the list, had accounted for 98% of world’s total crude steel production in 2020.