Russia continues to be the main steel producer in the CIS region

The monthly production data released by the World Steel Association (worldsteel) indicates a nominal decline in crude steel production in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) region in September this year. Production in the region decreased by 0.3% compared to the previous year. Production in September 2020 was 8.176 million tonnes, up from 8.203 million tonnes in the same month a year earlier.

Russia was the leading steel producer in the region. Smelting in Russia amounted to 5.860 million tons, which is about 72% of the total production in the region. Production in the country in September '20 increased slightly by 0.8% from 5.816 million tons in the same month a year earlier. Meanwhile, production in Ukraine for the year decreased by 5.4% from 1.745 million tons to 1.651 million tons. Kazakhstan, the third largest steel producer in the region, increased production by 3.2% over the same period last year.

The total steel production in the first nine months of this year amounted to 74.298 million tons, which is 2.5% less than in the previous year. From January to September 2019, steel production in the region amounted to 76.236 million tonnes. Only Uzbekistan reported an increase in production during this period compared to the same period last year.

The largest steel producers in the CIS region in January-September 2020 were Russia (54.026 million tonnes), Ukraine (16.400 million tonnes) and Kazakhstan (3.046 million tonnes).