India's crude steel production registered a decline of 3.26 per cent to 9.288 million tonnes (MT) in January this year, according to World Steel Association (worldsteel).

The country had produced 9.591 MT of crude steel during the corresponding month last year, the global industry body said in its latest report.

Crude steel production for the 64 countries reporting to the association was 154.4 million tonnes (MT) in January 2020, a 2.1 per cent increase compared to January 2019, the report said.

The world's largest steel producing country, China, reported a crude steel output of 84.3 MT in January, an increase of 7.2 per cent compared to the year-ago period.

Japan produced 8.2 MT of crude steel in the period under consideration, down 1.3 per cent from January 2019.

South Korea's crude steel production was 5.8 MT in January 2020, a decrease of eight per cent from the corresponding period last year, the report noted.

Members of worldsteel represent approximately 85 per cent of the world's steel production, including over 160 steel producers with 9 of the 10 largest steel companies, national and regional steel industry associations, and steel research institutes.