North American Crude Steel Output Surged 7.3%

The North American region reported substantial jump in crude steel output during the initial month of the current year, says latest statistics published by the World Steel Association (worldsteel). The regional output surged higher significantly by 7.3% upon comparison with the year-before month. The Jan ’19 output by the region totaled 10.512 million tonnes (Mt), as against the output of 9.798 Mt during the same month in 2018.

 

The notable rise in regional output was mainly led by the notable surge in output by the U.S. - the largest steel producer in the region. The U.S. crude steel output was up by 11% over the prior year. The output by the country totaled 7.647 Mt in Jan ’19. This compares with the output of 6.891 Mt in January 2018.

 

Meantime, Mexico- the second largest regional steel producer reported notable decline in output. The Mexican output was down by 3.2% from 1.715 Mt in Jan ’18 to 1.660 Mt in January this year. Canada- the other key producer reported marginal jump in monthly output. The Canadian crude steel output edged higher by nearly 0.9% from 1.140 Mt to 1.150 Mt over the previous year.

 

The above three countries accounted for approximately 99.5% of the total North American crude steel production in Jan ’19.

 

The highest jump in production was reported by El Salvador, whose output soared by 21.4% over the year. Cuba too reported 8.9% jump in output. On the contrary, Guatemala reported 2% decline in crude steel output.