In May 2024, global steel production increased again. According to the World Steel Association (WSA), 165.1 million tons of steel were smelted during this period, which is 1.5% more than the same indicator in 2023 and 6% more than the total of April 2024. This is stated in issue No. 1581 of the monthly bulletin "Branches of the Russian economy: production, finance, securities. Ferrous and non-ferrous Metallurgy" of the AK&M News Agency.
In total, 793.2 million tons of steel were smelted in the world in the first five months of 2024 — 0.1% less than in the same period of 2023, with 55% of the total volume coming from China. The average daily smelting in May increased by 2.6% compared to April to 5,326 million tons. This figure has been the highest since April 2023.
In January-May, Russia reduced steel production by 2.5% compared to a year earlier to 30.9 million tons, retaining fifth place among metal–producing countries (according to the WSA). During this period, steel production in the USA decreased by 2.4% to 33.4 million tons, in China — by 1.4% to 438.6 million tons, in Japan — by 2.3% to 35.7 million tons, in South Korea — by 6.3% to 26.4 million tons. At the same time, India increased steel production by 7.7% to 61.9 million tons, Germany — by 3.7% to 16.2 million tons, Turkey — by 19.8% to 15.5 million tons, and Iran — by 9.1% to 14 million tons. In May, according to the WSA, 6.3 million tons of steel were smelted in Russia — 0.9% less than a year earlier.
On July 1, 2024, restrictive quotas for steel importers to the EU market began to operate. For example, the European Commission (EC) has introduced a 15% limit for each individual country selling hot-rolled coils in the EU to the quarterly quota of other countries as its steel protection measure. Now, no country without individual quotas can supply more hot-rolled products and wire rods to the EU than 15% of the quarterly limit for "other suppliers". This limits sales of any of these countries to the European market at the level of 141,849 thousand tons per quarter until the end of this year.
In May, the index of production in the extraction of metal ores in Russia increased by 2.2% compared to May 2023. The production of iron ore concentrate amounted to 8.3 million tons (+4.8%), and the output of lead concentrates increased by 39.4%. The production of unprocessed or semi—processed gold, or in powder form, increased by 9.6% compared to May 2023, and by 15.4% compared to April 2024. The output of unprocessed or semi—processed silver decreased by 3.8% compared to May 2023, and by 11.1% compared to the previous month. The index of metallurgical production in Russia increased by 1% in May compared to May 2023, and by 1.6% compared to the previous month. At the same time, pig iron production fell by 7.5% compared to the same period in 2023, and the production of rolled ferrous metals — by 0.9%.
Read more about this in issue No. 1581 of the monthly bulletin "Branches of the Russian economy: Production, Finance, securities. Ferrous and Non-ferrous Metallurgy" by the AK&M News Agency dated July 10, 2024.
