Accounting for 5% of the global output, India produced just a little over 7 million tonnes (MT) of steel in May over the same month last year, growing at a rate of 1.6%, which was lower as compared to global average of 2.2%. Meanwhile, China, which contributes nearly half of the world’s steel production, produced 70.4 MT in May, recording 2.6% growth in production over the same month last year, according to World Steel Association (WSA).
Further while, Japan's output was 9.6 MT in May, down 0.3% over the same month a year ago, South Korea's output rose by 11.4% at 6.2 MT. Among European Union (EU) nations, Germany produced 3.9 MT, Italy 2.3 MT, France 1.4 MT and Spain 1.3 MT in May this year.
Besides that, Ukraine's output stood at 6.1 MT steel and Russia producing 6.1 MT of steel, clocked an increase of 0.6%. Meanwhile, the US produced 7.5 MT of steel in May 2014, registering an increase of 1.4%. However, Brazil's output which stood at 2.9 MT, was down by 4.3% over the same month last year.
During the January-May period, India produced 34.68 MT of steel against the global output of 684.23 MT. While the world's average growth rate was 2.4% during the first five months, country was at 1.9%.