In developed markets, steel production fell sharply during the second half of 2022, particularly in the fourth quarter of the year, before rebounding in the first half of 2023.

ArcelorMittal said that in Europe, voluntary production curtailment in response to high energy costs brought steel production in the EU-27 and the UK to an average of 10.3 million tons per month in 2H2022, a year-on-year decline of 20 percent.

Then production increased during the first half of 2023, to an average of 11.1 million tons.

In the United States, steel production also declined during the second half of 2022, although not as significantly as in Europe, with production averaging 6.6 million tons, implying a year-on-year decline of about 10 percent.

Thereafter, U.S. production increased slightly in the first half of the current year, to 6.6 million tons per month, but continued to decline 3 percent year-on-year.

Steel production

On the other hand, in developed Asia, production also fell 11 percent year-on-year during the second half of 2022, partly due to flooding that caused a major production shutdown in South Korea.

With the subsequent recovery of steel production in South Korea, production in Developed Asia increased to 14.6 million tons per month during the first half of 2023 from 14.2 million tons in the second half of 2022.

Together, these regions account for more than 50% of world production without China.

In developing countries without China, production in 1H2023 increased to 36.7 million tons per month, up from 35 million tons in 2H2022.

This is due to continued growth in Indian production (11.2 million tons vs. 10.3 million in 2H2022) and some recovery in production in the CIS region (7.1 million tons vs. 6.6 million in 2H2022), according to data from the World Steel Association.

In the rest of the world, production stagnated at low levels and declined year-on-year (Turkey: -16%, Brazil: -8.1%, ASEAN: -9%), the main exception being the Middle East, where steel production increased 7% year-on-year during the first half of 2023.