Chinese steel furnaces temper output in May

Although steel output in China fell by nearly 7 percent year on year this May, the nation produced 600,000 metric tons more steel compared with the prior month.

molten steel pouring
Of the 10 largest steel producing nations, four churned out more steel this May compared with May 2024 while the other six experienced output decreases.
Oleg Fedorenko | Dreamstime.com

Steelmakers and policymakers keeping an eye on steel output in China might come away with a dose of good news along with some concern when looking at the country's May steelmaking statistics.

According to a national steel association figure gathered by the Brussels-based World Steel Association (Worldsteel), mills in China produced 86.6 million metric tons (mmt) of steel this May, down 6.9 percent from the volume produced in May 2024, according to Worldsteel.

However, mills in China nonetheless produced 600,000 metric tons more steel last month compared with April.

China, which contains about 17 percent of the global population, made 54.5 percent of the steel produced this May by the combined 70 nations that report to Worldsteel. That long-held discrepancy has caused steel industry executives and sympathetic policymakers in numerous nations to consider China to be in a significant steel overcapacity situation.

The global May statistics compiled by Worldsteel also could prompt concerns about the state of the global economy. According to the organization, world crude steel production in the 70 nations reporting to it fell by 3.8 percent compared with May 2024.

Of the 10 largest steel-producing nations, four churned out more steel this May compared with May 2024, while the other six experienced output decreases.

In addition to China (-6.9 percent), nations that experienced decreases were Russia (-6.9 percent), Germany (-6.4 percent), Japan (-4.7 percent), Turkey (-2.8 percent) and South Korea (-1.7 percent).

The four nations with positive May year-on-year numbers are India (+9.7 percent); Brazil (+5 percent); Iran (+4.5 percent); and the United States (+1.7 percent).

As far as steelmaking momentum moving from April to May of this year, the following nations made more steel this May compared with the prior month (from largest output to smallest): China, India, Japan, the U.S., South Korea, Turkey, Brazil and Iran.

Russia and Germany, meanwhile, reported stable levels of steel output from this April to this May.

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