Steelmakers start 2024 with slower pace

Steel producers in the 71 countries that report to the Brussels-based World Steel Association (Worldsteel) made about 1.6 percent less steel this January compared with January 2023.

Chinese mills were estimated to have made 77.2 million metric tons of steel in January, representing about a 2.9 percent drop compared with the 79.5 million metric tons churned out in the first month of 2023, according to Worldsteel.

Nonetheless, China’s 77.2 million metric tons of output this January comprised 52 percent of the global total, allowing the nation to retain its status as the largest steel producer. Coming in second to China last month was India, where mills produced 12.5 million metric tons of steel.

Of the 10 largest steel-producing member nations of Worldsteel, Brazil also experienced a year-on-year production decline, down 7.2 percent this January.

German steelmakers made 0.9 percent less steel last month compared with one year earlier, while mills in the United States suffered a 0.3 percent drop in output.

Offering encouragement to the ferrous scrap market, mills in Turkey, which are largely scrap-fed electric arc furnace (EAF) operators, made 24.7 percent more steel this January compared with the slow start the sector faced a year ago.

India, another buyer of U.S. and European scrap, also started the year with a positive figure, with its 12.5 million tons of estimated output surpassing last January’s figure by 7.3 percent.

Thus far in February, U.S. steel producers seem to be lagging behind early 2024 volumes of output. The Washington-based American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) reports year to date through Feb. 17, the volume of steel production in the U.S. is down by 1.8 percent compared with the same time frame in 2023.