World crude steel production returned to growth in October 2024, rising 1.0 percent year on year to 152.1 million tonnes, the World Steel Association reported on 22 November, in figures later updated on 25 November. China produced 81.9 million tonnes in the month, up 2.9 percent on October 2023, its first year-on-year increase since June after falls in July, August and September. Chinese output in the first ten months of the year totalled 850.7 million tonnes, down 3.0 percent. The October recovery was helped by the stimulus measures Beijing announced in late September, which lifted steel prices and encouraged mills to raise output, and by restocking ahead of winter. The 71 countries reporting to the association account for about 98 percent of total world crude steel production, and the October figures suggested the worst of the 2024 downturn might be passing, even though full-year output was still on course to fall.
Source: World Steel Association — https://worldsteel.org/media/press-releases/2024/october-2024-crude-steel-production/
Photo: Wikimedia Commons (freely licensed).