Steel production in India decreased by 14%

In March, crude steel production in the country fell by 14% to 8.65 million tonnes, according to a report by the World Steel Association. Since March 25, India has seen a nationwide lockdown affecting production, demand and supply of steel in the country.

In the same month, a year ago, the country produced 10.04 million tons of crude steel, according to the latest report from the World Steel Association (worldsteel). In March 2020, global steel production also fell 6 percent to 147.05 million tonnes, down from 156.51 million tonnes in March 2019.

The global industry body said: "Due to the ongoing challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, many of this month's (March) figures are estimates by national and regional associations that may be revised with a production update next month."

The global steel giant China also reported a drop in production for the first time in months. The country, which has a significant share of global production, produced 78.97 million tonnes of steel in March, down 1.7 percent from 80.34 million tonnes in the corresponding month of 2019, according to the report.

“India estimates crude steel production at 8.65 million tons in March 2020, which is 13.9 percent less than 10.042 million tons in March 2019,” it was reported. The United States produced 7.22 million tonnes of crude steel in March, a 6% drop from 6.68 million tonnes a year earlier.

Japan estimated crude steel production at 8.20 in March 2020
million tons, which is 9.7 percent less than the indicator of 9.08 million tons in March 2019. South Korea produced 5.77 million tonnes of steel, down 7.9 percent from 6.27 million tonnes in March 2019. 2.9 million tonnes of steel in March 2020 decreased by 20.9 percent in March 2019. Italy produced 1.4 million tonnes of steel in March 2020, down 40.2 percent from March 2019.

France estimates 1.2 million tonnes of steel in March 2020, down 13.2 percent from March 2019. Spain produced 1.2 million tonnes of crude steel in March 2020, down 14 percent from March 2019.

“According to estimates, 5.9 million tons of steel were produced in Russia in March 2020. Ukraine produced 1.8 million tons of crude steel, Brazil produced 2.6 million tons, steel production in Turkey in March 2020 amounted to 3.1 million tons, ”it was reported.