India registered a growth of 3.5 per cent in crude steel production at 9.245 million tonne (MT) in November, according to World Steel Association. The country had produced 8.933 MT crude steel during the same month last year, the global industry body said in its latest report.

"Crude steel production for the 64 countries reporting to the World Steel Association (worldsteel) was 158.261 MT in November 2020, a 6.6 per cent increase compared to 148.417 MT in November 2019.

"Due to the ongoing difficulties presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, many of this month's figures are estimates that may be revised with next month's production update," worldsteel said. According to the worldsteel data, China registered 8 per cent year-on-year growth in steel output at 87.660 MT during November 2020, compared to 81.191 MT in the same period last year.

The US production stood at 6.120 MT, down 13.7 per cent from 7.088 MT. Japan's output slipped 5.9 per cent to 7.264 MT from 7.716 MT a year ago. South Korea's steel production fell 2.4 per cent to 5.760 MT in the month under review, as compared to 5.904 MT in the year-ago period. Germany's crude steel output rose 14.8 per cent to 3.376 MT as against 2.941 MT.

Italy's crude steel production was 2.049 MT in November 2020, up 3.2 per cent from 1.986 MT a year ago. France produced 1.149 MT of crude steel last month , 3.7 per cent lower from the year-ago period, while Spain's steel production stood at 1.113 MT, a rise of 11.2 per cent year-on-year.

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 global steel production.