Coronavirus Lockdown: India's crude steel output declines 14% to 8.65 MT in March, says global industry body

New Delhi: The country’s crude steel output decline 14 percent to 8.65 million tonne (MT) during March, according to a report by the World Steel Association. India has been observing a nationwide lockdown since 25 March, which has impacted production, demand and supplies of steel in the country. Click here to follow LIVE updates on coronavirus outbreak The country had produced 10.04 MT of crude steel during the same month a year ago, the World Steel Association (worldsteel) said in its latest report. [caption id=“attachment_8291491” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image, Reuters.[/caption] In March 2020, the global steel output was also down by 6 percent to 147.05 MT as compared with 156.51 MT in March 2019. The global industry body said, “Due to the ongoing difficulties presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, many of this month’’s (March) figures are estimates from national and regional associations, which may be revised with the next month’’s production update.” Click here to follow LIVE news and updates on stock markets Global steel giant China also, for the first time in many months, has reported a fall in its output. The country, which has a sizeable share in global output, produced 78.97 MT steel in March, down 1.7 percent as compared with 80.34 MT in the corresponding month of 2019, according to data from the report. “India estimates 8.65 MT of crude steel production in March 2020, down 13.9 percent from 10.042 MT in March 2019,” it said. In March, the United States produced 7.22 MT of crude steel, registering a fall of 6 percent as compared with 6.68 MT in the year-ago month. Japan estimates 8.20 MT of crude steel production in March 2020, down 9.7 percent from 9.08 MT in March 2019. South Korea produced 5.77 MT crude steel, down 7.9 percent from 6.27 MT in March 2019. In the EU, worldsteel said Germany estimated 2.9 MT of crude steel production in March 2020, down 20.9 percent in March 2019. Italy produced 1.4 MT of crude steel in March 2020, down by 40.2 percent in March 2019. France estimates 1.2 MT of crude steel production in March 2020, a 13.2 percent decrease compared to March 2019. Spain produced 1.2 MT of crude steel in March 2020, down 14 percent in March 2019. “Russia estimates 5.9 MT of crude steel production in March 2020. Ukraine produced 1.8 MT of crude steel, Brazil produced 2.6 MT, Turkey’s crude steel production for March 2020 was 3.1 MT,” it said.