Turkey Outperforms Global Trend in Crude Steel Production
Turkish steel production
The World Steel Association (worldsteel) released its latest report on March 24, 2026, revealing a 2.2% year-on-year decline in global crude steel production for February 2026. Total output for the 69 reporting countries settled at 141.8 million tonnes.
For the first two months of 2026, global production fell by 1.5% to 298.2 million tonnes compared to the same period in 2025. This contraction is largely attributed to the continued slowdown in the Chinese real estate sector and industrial shifts in Russia.
Turkey: A Strong Positive Outlier
Defying the global downward trend, Turkey demonstrated robust growth in early 2026. The nation’s steel sector benefited from domestic infrastructure projects and a strategic shift toward high-value exports:
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February Production: Increased by 3.44% to 3.02 million tonnes.
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Jan-Feb Period: Grew by 4.69% to a total of 6.41 million tonnes.
Turkey currently ranks as the 7th-largest crude steel producer globally and the largest in Europe, with analysts projecting its total crude steel production in 2026 to exceed 40 million tonnes.
Major Producers: The Divergence of 2026
The February data highlights a significant “decoupling” between traditional manufacturing giants and emerging industrial hubs like India.
| Country | Feb 2026 Output (Mt) | Feb Change (%) | Jan-Feb Total (Mt) | Jan-Feb Change (%) |
| China | 76.09 | -3.6% | 160.34 | -3.6% |
| India | 13.60 | +7.69% | 28.89 | +9.69% |
| USA | 6.54 | +5.76% | 13.65 | +4.9% |
| Japan | 6.40 | -0.04% | 13.15 | -0.28% |
| Russia | 5.03 | -10.2% | 10.51 | -8.96% |
| South Korea | 4.82 | +0.18% | 10.43 | +2.49% |
| Germany | 2.83 | +4.8% | 5.91 | +9.9% |
| Brazil | 2.52 | -5.72% | 5.26 | -3.38% |
Strategic Analysis: Regional Performance
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The “India Surge”: India remains the primary engine of global growth, with a near 10% increase in the first two months. This is driven by massive public infrastructure investments and a resilient domestic automotive sector.
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China’s Struggles: As the world’s largest producer, China’s 3.6% decline significantly pulls down the global average. Despite various stimulus measures, the housing market’s bottoming out is taking longer than anticipated.
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The Russian Contraction: Recording the sharpest decline in the top 10 (-10.2%), Russia’s output is hampered by international trade restrictions and a pivot in its energy-intensive industrial capacity toward wartime logistics.
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Western Recovery: Both the USA and Germany showed healthy gains, suggesting a recovery in industrial demand and an easing of energy price pressures that plagued the European sector in 2024–2025.
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