Global Steel output rebounds slightly from September’s level

World crude steel production for the 70 countries reporting to the Brussels-based World Steel Association (orldsteel) checked in at143.3 million metric tons (mmt) this October, representing a 1 percent rebound compared with the 141.8 mmt made the month before.

October 2025 output from the world’s melt shops, however, was down by about 5.8 percent compared with the 152.1 mmt produced in October 2024, according to Worldsteel.

Among the 10 largest steel producing nations, three produced more steel in the first three months of 2025 compared with the year before while seven have experienced lagging production.

The three nations with output gains include the United States, which made 2.8 percent more steel through the first 10 months of this year compared with 2024, along with India (+10.0 percent) and Turkey (+ 1.2 percent).

Theoretically, those figures provide good news for American steel recyclers, since those three nations also provide the largest markets for their scrap.

The seven nations with reduced output so far in 2025 are: the world’s largest steelmaker, the People’s Republic of China (-3.9 percent); Germany  (-9.9 percent); Russia (-4.9 percent); Japan (- 4.1percent); South Korea (-3.6 percent); Brazil (-1.8 percent) and Iran (-1.0 percent), according to Worldsteel.

Month-on-month, U.S. steelmakers bumped up their output from 6.9 mmt in October compared with the prior month. Slowing down their furnaces was China, decreasing their output by 2 percent from 73.5 mmt in September to 72.0 mmt last month.

More recent output figures have been released by the Washington-based American Iron and Steel Institute for U.S. production, showing American mills have continued to ramp up their output.

According to AISI, year-to-date through Nov. 22, 2025, mills now have produced 3.3 percent more steel compared with the prior year’s time frame. So far in 2025, mills in the U.S. have averaged a 77.0 percent capability utilization (capacity) rate, compared with a 75.5 percent rate in the first 11-and-a-half months of 2024.