African Crude Steel Production Surged 8% in March

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The African crude steel production recorded significant surge during the month of March this year. The output during the initial three-month period of the year ended significantly higher when compared with the corresponding quarterly period in 2017.

The crude steel production data released by the World Steel Association (worldsteel) suggests that African production totaled 1.207 million tonnes (Mt), significantly higher by 7.6% when matched with the previous year. The regional production had totaled only 1.122 Mt in March 2017.

ALSO READ: South America Reports 9% Surge in March Crude Steel Output

The jump in output by Egypt more than offset the production declines in Libya and South Africa. Egypt continued to remain as the largest steel producer in the region, registering a monthly output of 650,000 tonnes. The Egyptian production accounted for nearly 54% of the total regional production. The country’s monthly steel output surged by more than 23% when compared with the production of 528,000 tonnes recorded during March last year. The second largest producer- South Africa reported marginal decline in output over the year. The output dropped by 3% from 545,000 tonnes to 527,000 tonnes. Meantime, Libyan output declined considerably by 39% over the previous year to total 30,000 tonnes. The country had produced 49,000 tonnes of crude steel in March 2017.

The cumulative output by the African region during the first three months of the year totaled 3.619 Mt, higher by 9.1% when compared with the output of 3.316 Mt during the corresponding quarterly period in 2017.

All major producers reported increased production during Q1 2018. The output by Egypt was up by 15.6% from 1.642 Mt to 1.898 Mt over the previous year. The Libyan output has surged higher by 25.4% year-on-year from 100,000 tonnes to 126,000 tonnes. The South African production too climbed higher marginally by 1.4% from 1.574 Mt in Jan-Mar ’17 to 1.596 Mt during the first quarter of 2018.

Incidentally, the global crude steel production had surged 4% in March this year.