India accounted for 5% of global steel production in May

India produced just a little over seven million tonnes (MT) of steel, accounting for five% of the global output of 141 MT in May, World Steel Association (WSA) has said.

India's production growth rate of 1.6% in May over the same month last year was also lower as compared to the global average of 2.2%.

China, which contributes nearly half of the world's steel production, produced 70.4 MT in May, recording 2.6% growth in production over the same month last year, WSA said in a release.

During the January-May period, India produced 34.68 MT of steel against the global output of 684.23 MT.

While the world's average growth rate was 2.4% during the first five months, India's was 1.9%.

WSA data found that Japan's output was 9.6 MT in May, down 0.3% over the same month a year ago. South Korea's was 6.2 MT, up 11.4%.

Among European Union (EU) nations, Germany produced 3.9 MT, Italy (2.3 MT), France (1.4 MT) and Spain (1.3 MT) in May this year.

Russia produced 6.1 MT steel, clocking an increase of 0.6%. Ukraine's output was 2.8 MT.

The US produced 7.5 MT in May 2014, an increase of 1.4%. Brazil's output was 2.9 MT, down 4.3% over the same month last year.