Thanks to China’s rebound, world steel ended up not too badly in 2020 with a small drop of just 0.9% to 1.864 billion tonnes.
World Steel Association (WSA) data for last year confirms a second half rebound trimmed a first half drop of 7% to a nearly break-even level.
Asia produced 1.37 billion tonnes of crude steel in 2020, an increase of 1.5% compared to 2019, thanks to 5.2% rise to a record 1.03 billion tonnes.
The Association said that saw China’s share of global crude steel production rise from 53.3% in 2019 to 56.5% in 2020.
India’s crude steel production for 2020 fell 10.6% to 99.6 million tonnes (Mt) and South Korea produced 67.1 Mt, down 6% on 2019.
Japanese production fell a nasty 16.2% to 83.2 Mt last year, the lowest annual production since 1969, according to figures from the Japan Iron & Steel Federation.
Japan’s annual crude steel production peaked at 120.2 million tonnes in 2007 on the eve of the GFC. The 38 million tonne fall also means a lot less iron ore and coal from Australia and Brazil.
Part of the reason for the fall has been the offshoring of car production by Japanese car companies looking to lower costs (Thailand, the US and Europe all saw heavy investment from 2000 onwards) and weak domestic construction investment in Japan.
The European Union saw an 11.8% slide in production to 138.8 Mt in 2020 with German output leading the way with a 10% fall to 35.7 Mt of crude steel.
In the CIS, production rose 1.5% to 102.0 million tonnes. The WSA estimated Russia produced 73.4 Mt in 2020, up 2.6% on 2019. Ukraine produced 20.6 Mt, down 1.1% on 2019.
Crude steel production in North America slumped more than 15% to 101.1 Mt in 2020. US output slumped 17.2% to 72.7 Mt in 2020.
So much for Donald Trump’s claims to have helped the industry with higher tariffs on imports from China and to have helped employment. Jobs in the industry fell more than 10% in his reign.
The WSA said 45.4 Mt of crude steel was produced in the Middle East in 2020, an increase of 2.5% on 2019. Iran is estimated to have produced 29 Mt in 2020, up 13.4%.
Annual crude steel production for South America was 38.2 Mt in 2020, down 8.4% on 2019. Brazil dominated again producing 31Mt in 2020, down 4.9% compared to 2019.
Turkey’s crude steel production for 2020 was 35.8 Mt, up 6% on 2019.
Africa produced 17.2 Mt of crude steel in 2020, the same as in 2019.
Oceania produced 6.1 Mt of crude steel in 2020, down 1.4% on 2019.
Australian production was steady at 5.490 million tonnes while output in New Zealand fell 12% to 586,000 tonnes.
