Global steel output gained momentum in late 2023

In the first half of 2023, several of the world’s leading steel-producing nations were behind their 2022 output levels, according to data from the Brussels-based World Steel Association (Worldsteel).

In the approximately 70 nations that report figures to Worldsteel, 1.1 percent less steel was made in the first half of 2023 compared with the same six months in 2022.

With the books now closed on the entire year, output in several of those nations rebounded, and in 2023, steel output globally finished the year just 0.1 percent smaller in volume compared with the prior year.

The final month of 2023, however, could serve as a warning sign that the global steel sector is cooling off into the new year.

In December, 135.7 million metric tons of steel left global melt shops. That figure is down by 5.3 percent compared with December 2022. It reverses a trend of 0.6 percent year-on-year growth last October and 3.3 percent year-on-year growth in November 2023.

The December skid is largely attributable to market conditions in China, where mills make about half the world’s steel. That nation’s December 2023 output dropped by 14.9 percent compared with production in December 2022.

While China’s producers struggled with the effects of an apartment tower construction boom that seems to have reached its end, mills in most other nations were unaffected by China’s domestic issues.

The scrap-consuming electric arc furnace (EAF) mills in Turkey closed 2023 with a monthly figure that was 21.2 percent higher than output in December 2022.

Output in India, another consumer of imported scrap, was 9.5 percent higher in December 2023 compared with one year prior, and the nation finished last year making 11.8 percent more steel than it did in 2022.

The sector in the United States demonstrated its decoupling from China’s woes by producing 7.6 percent more steel in December 2023 compared with one year earlier. Mills in the U.S. finished 2023 with a slight (0.2 percent) overall growth in output.