World Steel Association

Data for 2018 and 2019 are forecast values.   The World Steel Association (worldsteel) publishes a “Short Range Outlook (SRO)” twice annually. The SRO shows current year steel demand and forecasts demand for the next two years, covering the world, major regions, and the largest steel consuming countries.   China continued to close most of its outdated induction furnaces in 2017, a category which was not captured in official statistics. While nominal steel demand growth in 2018 is expected to reach 6.0%, the dynamics of steel using sectors suggest growth of 2.0% in real terms. Accordingly, real global growth in 2018 is 2.1%. As happened in our October 2017 Short Range Outlook, the disparity comes from an underestimation of 2017 steel use that had been supplied by the illegal induction furnaces.

Worldsteel’s Steel Statistical Yearbook presents a cross-section of steel industry statistics. It contains comprehensive statistics from (1991 - 2016) on crude steel production by process, steel production by product, steel trade by product, apparent steel use, and production of pig iron and directly reduced iron. It also includes data on production and trade of iron ore and trade of scrap as well as data on indirect exports and imports of steel and true steel use. The statistics were collected from members of worldsteel and various international organisations.

The World Steel Association (worldsteel) collects crude steel production data from 66 countries. These 66 countries accounted for approximately 99% of total world crude steel production in 2016. 

1) This dataset contains monthly blast furnace iron (BFI) and direct reduced iron (DRI) production data. The total for the year is not the sum of the 12 calendar months. This is because annual production is reported separately. Regional and grand totals refer to the countries listed only. Other countries report only annual - and not monthly - data. 2) World Steel Association collects Blast Furnace Iron production (BFI) from 39 countries and Direct Reduced Iron production (DRI) production from 14 countries . The 39 countries accounted for approximately 99% of total world BFI production and 14 countries accounted for 85% of total world DRI in 2015.

List of companies with tonnage of more than 3 million in 2017 Company ownership and tonnage calculations: For worldsteel members, the data was sourced from the official tonnage declaration. For Chinese companies, the official CISA tonnage publication was used. In cases of more than 50% ownership, 100% of the subsidiary’s tonnage is included. In cases of 30% to 50% ownership, pro-rata tonnage is included. Unless otherwise specified, less than 30% ownership is considered a minority interest and therefore not included.