World crude steel production returned to year-on-year growth in August 2020, rising 0.6% to 156.2 million tonnes, according to the World Steel Association. The increase was driven almost entirely by China, which produced 94.8 million tonnes in the month, up 8.4% on August 2019 and a new monthly record, surpassing the high set only a month earlier. Chinese output for the first eight months of the year reached just over 689 million tonnes, 3.7% higher than a year earlier, putting the country on course to exceed one billion tonnes for the full year for the first time. Elsewhere, the recovery remained incomplete. India produced 8.5 million tonnes, down 4.4% year on year, and the United States made 5.6 million tonnes, a fall of 24.4%. Production in the CIS countries was estimated at 7.9 million tonnes, down 6.2%. The August figures showed the same split that had defined the year: Chinese mills running at full pace on infrastructure and construction demand, while producers in most other regions were still working their way back from the sharp cuts imposed during the spring lockdowns.
Source: RECYCLING magazine / worldsteel — https://www.recycling-magazine.com/2020/09/25/august-2020-crude-steel-production/
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