Steel production in SA rose 3.6% year on year to 496,000 tonnes in February after falling 4.2% in 2016 to an estimated 6.141-million tonnes, according to the World Steel Association. Global steel output in February rose 4.1% year on year to 136.5-million tonnes after a 0.8% rise in 2016 to 1.6285-billion tonnes. In 2016 crude steel production fell in Europe, the Americas and Africa, but rose in the Russian commonwealth, the Middle East, Asia and Oceania. Africa’s production fell 4.7% in 2016 to 12.189-million tonnes. SA’s share of African steel production was just more than half. In February, Egypt overtook SA after its steel production surged 46.8% to 507,000 tonnes. The largest producer in 2016 was China, which increased production 1.2% to 808.4-million tonnes. It raised its share of global production to 49.6% in 2016 from 49.4%. In February, China raised its production 4.1% to 61.2-million tonnes. SA’s steel production fell 7.6% year on year in the first half of 2015 to 3.2-milli...

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