Red-hot steel billets are pictured at Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant owned by ChelPipe Group in Pervouralsk in Sverdlovsk Region, Russia February 27, 2020. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/Files

LONDON (Reuters) - Global crude steel production rose 2.1% to 142.4 million tonnes in February from a year earlier, World Steel Association data showed on Monday.

Crude steel output from China, the world’s top producer and consumer of it, rose 5% to 74.8 million tonnes.