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South Africa’s steel production dropped by 11.8% year on year (y/y) to an estimated 500,000 tonnes in February 2015 after declining by 9.6% y/y to 550,000 tonnes in January 2015, according to World Steel Association’s latest report. This makes Egypt tops Africa’s steel production.
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.
The latest decrease follows a 0.6% drop in 2014 to 7.21-million tons (Mt) and means that Egypt is now Africa’s top producer. 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.
