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World's steel production fell for the first time in eight months in September primarily due to sluggish output in all major producing nations, barring India.
According to World Steel Association, global production in September fell by 0.1% to 134.4 million tonnes (MT) compared to 134.5 MT in the same month last year.
The dip in production was mainly due to stagnant output in world's largest producing nation, China. The country, which produces almost half of world's steel, produced 67.5 MT steel in September like in the corresponding month last year.
China, Japan, US and India are the leading producers of steel in the world. In September, production in Japan fell by 0.5% and it dipped by 0.1% in the US.
India was the only exception among the top four producing nations. Production in world's fourth largest steel producer grew by 2.5% during the month to 6.8 MT compared to 6.6 MT in the same month last year.
World's steel production had declined by 0.4% in January this year over the same month last year due to a dip in Chinese production. Output in China had fallen by 3.2% in January this year.
WSA said crude steel capacity utilisation ratio during the month was 76.1%, which is 2.6 percentage points lower than September 2013.
