Global steel production, as reported by the 67 member countries of the World Steel Association (worldsteel), rose by 5% year-on-year to 142.1-million tonnes in April.

China’s steel production increased by 4.9% to 72.8-million tonnes, while Japan’s output rose 3% year-on-year to 8.8-million tonnes.

The US produced 6.7-million tonnes of steel, an increase of 1.8% year-on-year.

South Africa’s production, meanwhile, fell by 8.8% year-on-year to 493 000 t, while Egypt increased its steel production by 45.2% year-on-year to 512 000 t.

Meanwhile, worldsteel said the crude steel capacity utilisation ratio increased by 2.5 percentage points year-on-year to 73.6%. This was also 1.7 percentage points higher than March.