Crude Steel Output Witnessed Notable Decline in North America

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The monthly crude steel production data for the month of April this year published by the World Steel Association (worldsteel) denotes substantial dip in output by countries in North America.

The regional output totalled 7.203 Mt in April 2020. This compares with 10.048 Mt output in the same month a year before. Year-on-year, the output recorded a decline by 28.3%. The output by all the countries in the region, except El Salvador, reported sharp decline. The output totalled 36.798 Mt in Jan-Apr ’20, significantly lower by 9.8% when matched with 40.792 Mt of output during the period from January to April in 2019. The regional output had totalled around 30 Mt of crude steel in the initial quarter of 2020.

The U.S- the largest crude steel producer in North America saw its output drop by approximately one-third. The country’s output dipped from 7.357 Mt to 4.968 Mt. The Mexican steel output reported 12% year-on-year decline, falling from 1.649 Mt to 1.450 Mt. The Canadian production was down by 24.4% over the previous year to 750,000 tonnes. The country had produced 992,000 tonnes of crude steel in April 2019.

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The other countries to see reduced production levels were Cuba and Guatemala, whose outputs were down by 43.5% and 40.4% respectively. On the other hand, El Salvador’s monthly crude steel output in April this year was estimated at around 10,000 tonnes, up by more than 29% when compared with the output of around 8,000 tonnes in the same month a year before.