Posted on 25 Sep 2026
Global crude steel production dropped 1.7% on-year in August to 144.2 million tonnes, with declines in Chinese, EU and Brazilian output offsetting growth in Indian and US production, Kallanish notes from worldsteel data.
Chinese production was down 3.7% on-year to 74.6mt, but the rest of Asia saw growth. Indian, Japanese and South Korean output rose 4.6%, 0.4% and 2.6% respectively to 14.77mt, 6.66mt and 5.35mt.
EU27 output inched down 1% to 8.89mt, despite 1.7% growth in Germany to 2.59mt and 6.8% growth in Spain to 873,000t. Italian output fell 3.5% to 793,000t, while an estimate for French production – of 700,000t, down 14.6% – dragged overall EU output in August.
Turkish production ended its significant growth streak, falling 0.4% in August to 3.38mt.
US output was estimated to have grown 3% to 7.3mt, while four months of Brazilian output growth came to an end, with the country’s production down 6.2% to 2.69mt.
Russian production was estimated down 0.3% to 5.5mt and Ukrainian output was confirmed to have slumped 57% to only 277,000t amid Russian drone strikes on steelmaking facilities.
Global crude steel production in January-August thus inched down 0.7% on-year to 1.23 billion tonnes.
Source:Kallanish
