SA steel production falls by 11.8% y/y in Feb 2015
South African steel production fell by 11.8% year on year (y/y) to an estimated 500‚000 tons in February 2015 after declining by 9.6% y/y to 550‚000 tons in January 2015‚ according to the World Steel Association (worldsteel).
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Steel accounts for 4.7% of total manufacturing production and is an important indicator of the overall health of the sector‚ as it feeds into other manufacturing sectors.
This recent reduction followed a 0.6% drop in 2014 to 7.21-million tons (Mt). It also means that Egypt is now Africa's top producer as Egypt grew its production by 8.7% y/y in the first two months to 1.155Mt compared with SA's 1.05Mt. In 2014 Egypt only produced 6.485Mt.