India registered a growth of 7.6 per cent in crude steel production at 10 million tonnes (MT) in January 2021, according to the World Steel Association (worldsteel).

The country had produced 9.3 MT crude steel during the same month last year.

"The production for the 64 countries reporting to the worldsteel was 162.9 MT in January 2021, registering a 4.8 per cent increase compared to January 2020," the global industry body said in its latest report.

China remained the global leader in production of steel in January, registering 6.8 per cent year-on-year growth in output at 90.2 MT during the month.

According to worldsteel data, China had produced 84.3 MT steel in the same month last year.

Last month, Japan's output slipped 3.9 per cent to 7.9 MT year-on-year.

The US produced 6.9 MT steel in the month under review. Its output was at 7.7 MT in January 2020. Russia's output last month was at 6.7 MT compared to 6 MT in January 2020. South Korea's steel production in the month was at 6 MT, as compared to 5.8 MT in the year-ago period. Turkey produced 3.4 MT of crude steel last month. It had produced 3 MT in January 2020.

According to the report, while Germany produced 3.3 MT steel in January 2021, Brazil and Iran produced 3 MT and 2.6 MT, respectively.

With members in every major steel-producing country, Brussels-based worldsteel represents steel producers, national and regional steel industry associations, and steel research institutes.

Its members represent around 85 per cent of the global steel production.