According to the association’s monthly production tally, the year-over-year increase was driven in part by gains in the Middle East, where production grew nearly 23%, and in Asia, where production rose 4.8%.

Among Asian countries, China’s production grew nearly 5% to 74.8 million metric tons, rising from 71.2 million metric tons. In the same period, Indian production rose 1.5% to 9.6 million metric tons.

In the Middle East, Iranian production jumped 34% year over year to 2.71 million metric tons, increasing from 2.02 million metric tons.  

However, production in western regions receded, falling by 1.3% in North America and 8.6% in the European Union. In North America, U.S. output rose 3% to nearly 7.2 million metric tons, but Mexican produciton fell more than 19% to 1.34 million metric tons. In the European Union, Italy’s steel production was flat, remaining at slightly less than 2.1 million metric tons. 

South American production fell 0.9%, declining to 3.4 million metric tons.