Steel production in the CIS increased in 2020

The monthly production data released by the World Steel Association (worldsteel) suggests a marked increase in crude steel production in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) region during December 2020. Production in the region increased by 3.1% over the previous year. Smelting was 8.696 million tonnes (tonnes), up from 8.438 million tonnes in the same month a year earlier.

Russia was the leading steel producer in the region. Smelting in Russia amounted to 6.110 million tons, which is slightly lower by 0.8% from 6.159 million tons in December 2019. Meanwhile, smelting in Ukraine significantly increased output by 22.1% for the year from 1.561 to 1.906 million tons. In Kazakhstan, the third largest regional steel producer, production fell by almost 5% year-on-year to 355,000 tonnes. The monthly steel production in other countries in the region is: Belarus (205,000 tons), Uzbekistan (80,000 tons) and Moldova (45,000 tons).

Cumulative crude steel production for the full year of 2020 was 101.756 million tonnes, up 1.5% on the previous year. Steel production in the region in 2019 was 100.236 million tonnes. The jump in production in Uzbekistan, Moldova and Russia was practically offset by a decline in production in other countries.

The largest steel producers in the CIS region in 2020 were Russia (73.400 million tonnes), Ukraine (20.616 million tonnes) and Kazakhstan (3.835 million tonnes).