World crude steel production fell 6.1 percent year on year to 155.0 million tonnes in January 2022, the World Steel Association reported on 22 February. The decline opened a year in which global output would fall in every month through August, the longest run of monthly falls since the pandemic shock of 2020. China, the world's largest producer, made 81.7 million tonnes, down 11.2 percent, as winter output curbs ahead of the Beijing Winter Olympics and a cooling property market weighed on mills. Production outside China was steadier, with mills in Europe and North America still running on the post-pandemic recovery, but energy costs were already climbing and order books were beginning to thin. The figures covered the 64 countries reporting to the association, which account for about 98 percent of world crude steel production. January set the tone for 2022: a year shaped by Chinese curbs, war in Europe, and an energy crisis that would push several European mills to idle furnaces before the year was out.
Source: World Steel Association — https://worldsteel.org/media/press-releases/2022/
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