India's crude steel output up 8.9% at 8.1 MT in Feb

Indian crude steel production registered a growth 8.9 per cent to 8.1 million tonnes (MT) in February compared to the same month last year, the World Steel Association said.

India, which is the third largest global steel producer, recorded a 8.9 per cent rise to 8.1 MT in crude steel output last month as compared to lesser percentage growth in production by other countries like China, Japan and South Korea in Asia, as per the latest report from the World Steel Association.India had produced 7.45 MT of steel in February 2016.

"China's crude steel production for February 2017 was 61.2 MT, an increase of 4.6 per cent compared to February 2016," the report said.

China had produced 58.46 MT of crude steel in February 2016.

"Japan produced 8.3 MT of crude steel in February 2017, a decrease of 0.1 per cent compared to February 2016," according to the report.

It further said: "World crude steel production for the 67 countries reporting to the World Steel Association (worldsteel) was 126.6 MT in February 2017, a 4.1 per cent increase compared to February 2016".

The production stood at 121.6 MT in February 2016.

"It should be noted that there were 29 days in February 2016," the body said.

The US also saw a marginal fall of 0.1 per cent at 6.4 MT output in February as compared to year-ago period.

In the EU, Germany produced 3.5 MT crude steel in February, up 2.6 per cent over the same month last year. Italy produced 2 MT, while production in Spain stood at 1.1 MT.

Besides, Turkey produced 2.7 MT of crude steel, Russia 5.5 MT, Ukraine 1.9 MT and Brazil 2.5 MT.