The World Steel Association (worldsteel) says that global crude steel output from its 64 reporting countries was 147.8 million tonnes in November 2019, down -1% year-on-year. A rise in Chinese output compensated for falls in most other major steel-producing countries.The November data was the third negative growth for global crude steel production in a row. In October the fall reached a record level of -3.1% y-o-y. China produced 80.3mt in November, an increase of 4% on November 2018 and now 54.3% of the world’s crude steel output. The recovery came after the country recorded a -0.6% y-o-y for October’s output. Crude steel production in India was 8.9mt, down by -2.8% on-year, whilst output in Japan also fell, by a significant -10.6% to 7.7mt on the same basis. South Korean production fell by -0.5% y-o-y during the month to reach 5.9mt.

In the EU28 total November crude steel production fell by -10.7% y-o-y to 12.8mt. Output in Germany also moved down by -12.0% to an estimated 3.2mt. Monthly production dipped on-year in Italy, falling by  -9.8% to 2.0mt. French crude steel output tumbled on-year in November by a significant -18.2% to 1.1mt. Spanish output decreased by -10.9% to 1.1mt same basis. Turkish production was 2.9mt in the month, down by -8.1% y-o-y. US crude steel output was 7.2mt in November 2019, an on-year decrease of -2.2%, whilst in Brazil crude steel production was 2.6mt, down by -10.5% on October 2018. Russian estimated production was 5.6mt in the month, -2.9% down on-year. Ukraine’s output fell meanwhile to 1.3mt, down by -20.1%, same basis.