Posted on 31 May 2019
The Middle East countries reported marginal surge in crude steel production during April this year. The monthly production statistics published by the World Steel Association (worldsteel) indicates that production by the region edged higher by 1.5% over the previous year. The regional production accounted for less than 2% of the global steel production of 156.671 Mt in April ‘19.
The regional steel production totaled 3.105 million tonnes (Mt) in April this year. This is higher by 1.5% over the previous year. The Middle East crude steel production had totaled only 3.060 Mt in April 2018. Meantime, the Middle East steel production during the initial four-month period of the year was up by 6.6% when matched with 2018, totaling 12.177 Mt as against the production of 11.420 Mt in Jan-Apr ’18.
The key producer, Iran, accounted for almost 70% of the regional output, with a monthly output of around 2.165 Mt. The Iranian production was up marginally by 2.8% over the year. Saudi Arabia boosted its output by nearly 7.7% year-on-year from 446,000 tonnes to 480,000 tonnes. On the other hand, the output by the UAE drooped by approximately 2.5%. Qatar too reported significant drop in steel production. The country’s output was down by almost 18% year-on-year from 233,000 tonnes to 192,000 tonnes.
The topmost producing countries during the initial four-month period of the year were Iran (8.388 Mt), Saudi Arabia (1.892 Mt) and the UAE (1.074 Mt).
