Asia's steel production fell 1.2 percent in April

According to the latest figures released by the World Steel Association, Old Asia is still the largest steel producer in the world, although steel output declined slightly during April 2015 from the same month a year earlier. The drop in production was 1.32 percent, which is associated with a reduction in steel output among the first two leaders of the world's metallurgical sector.

China's total crude steel production in April was 68.909 million tonnes, down 0.7 percent from 69.372 million tonnes achieved in April 2014. India produced 7.433 million tonnes of steel, a slight increase of 2.1 percent from 7.280 million tonnes of steel products in April last year.

At the same time, Japan reported a decrease in monthly crude steel production in April. Steel output in Japan fell from 8.946 million tonnes in April 2014 to 8.402 million tonnes in the same month this year. The drop in production was about 10 percent at the annual level. Crude steel production in South Korea also dropped significantly to 5.788 million tonnes in April this year. The fall was 6.6 percent compared to 6.199 million tonnes in April 2014.

Taiwan's crude steel production in April, by contrast, rose 9.2 percent to 2.015 million tonnes, up from 1.845 million tonnes in the same month last year. In general, the positions of Asian countries in the world ranking of the largest steel producers in terms of volume remained, despite a slight decrease in steel output in the region.

Cumulative steel production in the first four months of 2015 compared to the same period in 2014 is: China 270.075 million tonnes (down 1.3 percent), Japan 35.147 million tonnes (down 3.7 percent), India 29.972 million tons (an increase of 6.7 percent), South Korea 22.696 million tons (a fall of 5.5 percent), Taiwan 7.860 million tons (an increase of 7.9 percent).