The crude steel output by the North American region recorded 31% year-on-year decline in the month of May 2020, says the World Steel Association (worldsteel). The production dropped from 10.304 million tonnes (Mt) in May 2019 to 7.113 Mt in May this year. All countries in the region except El Salvador recorded notable decline in crude steel output during the month.

The leading steel producer in the region was the U.S. The monthly output by the country recorded almost 37% year-on-year decline from 7.553 Mt to 4.790 Mt. The Mexican output was down sharply by 13.2% to total 1.450 Mt in May this year. The county’s output had totalled 1.670 Mt in May last year. In third place was Canada, which reported 19.6% year-on-year decline. The Canadian monthly crude steel output totalled 830,000 tonnes.

The output by other countries in the region is as follows: Guatemala (20,000 tonnes), Cuba (15,000 tonnes) and El Salvador (8,000 tonnes).

The region produced 43.638 Mt of crude steel during the initial five-month period of the current year. This compares with 51.096 Mt of production during Jan-May ’19. The leading steel producers in the region were the U.S. (31.330 Mt), Mexico (7.256 Mt) and Canada (4.818 Mt). The region accounted for nearly 6% of the total global steel output during the opening five months of 2020, which totalled 728.715 Mt.