MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Global steel output down by 23.6% in April

Global steel output fell by 23.6% in April to 89-million tons, the World Steel Association said on Wednesday.

China's crude steel production fell by 3.9% to 43.4-million tons in April. Japan produced 5.7-million tons, down by 43.6% compared with the same month last year. South Korea showed a decrease of 10.5% from April 2008, producing 4.1-million tons of crude steel last month.

In the EU, Germany's crude steel output plunged by 53.1% to 1.9-million tons. Spain produced 1.2-million tons of crude steel in April, which was 38.2% less than the same month last year. France showed a decrease of 50.5% from April 2008, producing 0.8-million tons in April.

Steel output dropped by 53.4% in the US to 3.9-million tons. Brazil produced 1.7-million tons of crude steel in April 2009, 40.4% lower than in April 2008. Turkey produced two-million tons of crude steel in April 2009, which was 13.4% down from April 2008. Iran produced 0.9-million tons crude steel in April 2009, an estimated 3.2% more than in April 2008.

World crude steel production for the first four months of 2009 was 354-million tons, a 22.7% decrease over the same period of 2008.

Asia produced 231-million tons of crude steel in the period, a decline of 9.05% over the first four months of 2008. The EU produced 40-million tons of steel from January to April 2009, down by 44.2% compared with the same months of 2008. North America showed a 48.5% decline, producing 23.5-million tons during the first four months of 2009.

China produced 171-million tons of crude steel for the first four months of 2009, a slight increase of 0.1% while all the other major steel producing countries showed a decrease for the first four months of 2009, the association concluded.