Regional steel production in Africa grows by 24%

Steel production in Africa increased significantly in April 2019. Production in the first four months of the year is significantly higher compared to the corresponding period in 2018.

Steel production data published by the World Steel Association (worldsteel) shows African production at 1.359 million tonnes, up 23.5% from the previous year. Regional production in April last year was only 1.101 million tons.

All countries in the region recorded an increase in production during the month. Egypt continued to be the largest steel producer in the region, producing 726,000 tonnes of crude steel. Egyptian production accounted for over 53% of total regional production. The monthly steel output in the country increased by almost 18% compared to the previous year. The second largest producer, South Africa, reported 18.5% annual production growth from 486,000 tons to 576,000 tons. Meanwhile, the volume of production in Libya for the month amounted to 57,000 tons.

Cumulative production in the African region for the initial four-month period of the year was 5.190 million tonnes, up 9.5% from 4.738 million tonnes in the corresponding period in 2018. The aggregate production in various countries is as follows. : Egypt (2.840 million tons), South Africa (2.169 million tons) and Libya (180,000 tons).