Global crude steel production fell 4.3% year-on-year in March to 161.19 million tonnes, although this was up over 10 million tonnes from February. 

Weaker output in China and the EU were the main drivers of the year-on-year drop. 

Chinese production slid 7.8% year-on-year in March to 88.27 million tonnes, while Japanese and South Korean production were down 4% and 9.5% respectively to 7.2 million tonnes and 5.28 million tonnes. 

However, Indian output surged 7.8% to 12.7 million tonnes. 

EU27 crude steel production fell 4.3% year-on-year in March to 11.6 million tonnes, despite German production rising 8.4% to 3.5 million tonnes and French output by 2% to 812,000 tonnes. Italian and Spanish production dropped 12.6% and 14.4% respectively to 1.9 million tonnes and 1.02 million tonnes. 

Turkish production soared 18% year-on-year in March to 3.2 million tonnes, coming from a low, post-earthquake base last year. 

US production was flat year-on-year at 6.91 million tonnes, while Brazilian output rose 5.6% to 2.79 million tonnes. 

Russian volumes are estimated to have risen 0.8% to 6.64 million tonnes. 

Crude steel output in the 71 countries monitored by the World Steel Association inched up 0.5% year-on-year in the first quarter to 469.06 million tonnes.