World Steel in Figures 2023

Foreword

The long-term sustainability of the steel industry has always been a priority for the World Steel Association and our members.

Back in 1972 we published our first environmental policy and standards statement and since then we have been continuously updating our commitments to incorporate the stringent requirements coming from our customers and wider society. We use an increasingly broad definition of sustainability, focusing not just on care of the environment, but also including safety and health, education and training, ethical and transparent governance, and other elements of sustainability.

Today, delivering the significant emissions reductions that the framework of the Paris Agreement requires at a time when production of steel is increasing across the world will require all of us in the industry to create and deploy radically different steelmaking technologies with great speed, and to develop markets in which our low-carbon steel products are commercially viable.

As part of our sustainability journey this year we will be hosting two events for the steel value chain, our second Open Forum and our inaugural Breakthrough Technology Conference. By engaging the wider steel community we hope to accelerate the decarbonisation of our own industry and strengthen steel’s position as the material of choice enabling other sectors to meet their own decarbonisation targets.

World Steel in Figures provides a snapshot of the dynamics of the global steel industry in 2022, which I hope you will find interesting. Please don’t hesitate to contact us via worldsteel.org with any questions or comments.

Dr Edwin Basson
Director General

worldsteel’s sustainability journey

Sustainability programmes
planned for 2023

Since 2022, worldsteel has embarked on a new journey to further develop dialogue and collaboration between the steel industry’s many stakeholders to share ideas and find solutions to reduce CO2 emissions in the immediate term, as well as speed up transition through bridge and breakthrough technologies in the intermediate and long term horizon of 2040-50. This dialogue spans both aspects – steelmaking technology development and enabling conditions such as policy and input material availability.

Two events focusing on dialogue and collaboration are planned:

Open Forum 2023 | 12-13 September 2023 | Belgium

Building on the success of our inaugural event held in 2022, we once again aim to reach beyond steelmakers to engage with stakeholders in the steelmaking ecosystem, including equipment manufacturers, suppliers, related industries, international bodies, financial institutions and academia.

The event will focus the discussion on the following topics: climate policy implementation, financing the transition, raw material requirements, energy availability, steel-using sectors and chain of custody.

For more details, contact Åsa Ekdahl, Head, Environment and Climate Change, worldsteel (ekdahl@worldsteel.org).

Breakthrough Technology Conference 2023 | 5-6 December 2023 | UAE

This event aims to facilitate an open and constructive dialogue between researchers and engineers from within the steel industry ecosystem active in developing low-CO2 emission iron and steelmaking technologies. The conference will provide a platform to network, engage and exchange knowledge throughout the steel value chain.

Our inaugural breakthrough technology conference will expand discussions to cover a broad range of topics directly related to the transition. These will include hydrogen utilisation (reduction, BF injection, heating), CCUS, use of alternative carbon sources, electrification (EAF, electrolysis, heating), scrap, efficiency and other cross-cutting issues.

For more details, contact Rizwan Janjua, Head, Technology, worldsteel (janjua@worldsteel.org).

Our industry fully supports the aims of the Paris Agreement.

World crude steel production
1950 to 2022

million tonnes, crude steel production

Top 50 steel-producing companies 2022

million tonnes, crude steel production

(1) Includes tonnage of Xinyu Steel
(2) Includes 60% AM/NS India (former Essar Steel)
(3) Includes tonnage of Benxi Steel
(4) Includes Nippon Steel Stainless Steel Corporation, Sanyo Special Steel, Ovako, 40% AM/NS India and 31.4% USIMINAS
(5) Former Valin Group
(6) Estimated combined tonnage of Mobarakeh Steel, Esfahan Steel, Khuzestan Steel and NISCO

Notes on company ownership and tonnage calculations:
For worldsteel members, the data was sourced from their official tonnage declarations. For Chinese companies, the official CISA tonnage publication was used, unless especially noted. In case of more than 50% ownership, 100% of the subsidiary’s tonnage is included, unless specified otherwise. In cases of 30%-50% ownership, pro-rata tonnage is included. Unless otherwise specified in the declaration, less than 30% ownership is considered a minority and therefore, not included. Figures represent ownership ending 31 December 2022.

For an extended company listing, go to https://worldsteel.org/steel-topics/statistics/top-producers.

Major steel-producing countries
2021 and 2022

million tonnes, crude steel production

Crude steel production by process 2022

The countries in this table accounted for approximately 99.9% of world crude steel production in 2022.
e – estimate

Continuously-cast steel output
2020 to 2022

The countries in this table accounted for approximately 99.9% of world crude steel production in 2022
(e) – estimate

Monthly crude steel production
2019 to 2022

million tonnes

Total 64 reporting countries*

million tonnes

North America

European Union (27)

South America

Russia and Other CIS (4) + Ukraine

Japan

*The 64 reporting countries:
Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Belarus,
Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Croatia, Cuba, Czechia, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador,
Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, India, Iran, Italy, Japan,
Kazakhstan, Libya, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Mexico, Moldova, Netherlands, New
Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russia,
Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden,
Taiwan, China, Thailand, Türkiye, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom,
United States, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, and Viet Nam.

In 2022, these 64 countries accounted for approximately 97% of world crude steel
production.

China

Steel production and use: geographical distribution 2012

Crude steel production
World total: 1 563 million tonnes

Others comprise:

Africa	1.0%	South America	3.0%
Middle East	1.6%	Australia and New Zealand	0.4%

Apparent steel use (finished steel products)
World total: 1 445 million tonnes

Others comprise:

Africa	2.3%	South America	3.2%
Middle East	3.5%	Australia and New Zealand	0.5%

Steel production and use: geographical distribution 2022

Crude steel production
World total: 1 885 million tonnes

Others comprise:

Africa	1.0%	South America	2.3%
Middle East	2.7%	Australia and New Zealand	0.3%

Apparent steel use (finished steel products)
World total: 1 781 million tonnes

Others comprise:

Africa	2.3%	South America	2.3%
Middle East	2.9%	Australia and New Zealand	0.4%

Apparent steel use
2018 to 2022

million tonnes, finished steel products

(e) = estimate

Apparent steel use per capita
2018 to 2022

kilograms, finished steel products

Pig iron
2021 and 2022

million tonnes

(e) = estimate

Direct reduced iron production
2018 to 2022

million tonnes

(e) = estimate

Iron ore
2021

million tonnes, actual weight

(1) Production adjusted so that Fe content is similar to world average. Source: RMG.

World trade in iron ore by area
2021

million tonnes

* Excluding intra-regional trade marked

Trade in ferrous scrap
2021 and 2022

million tonnes

World trade in ferrous scrap by area 2022

million tonnes

* Excluding intra-regional trade marked

World steel trade in products
1975 to 2022

million tonnes

Exports are of finished and semi-finished steel products. Production of finished steel, where not available from national sources, is calculated from crude steel production, taking into account the continuous casting ratio.

World volume of trade 2000 to 2022

Quantum indices 2000 = 100

World steel exports by product
2018 to 2022

million tonnes

Exports data is reported by country and therefore includes for example intra-EU trade, trade between USMCA countries, etc.

The figures are based on a broad definition of the steel industry and its products, including ingots, semi-finished products, hot-rolled and cold-finished products, tubes, wire, and unworked castings and forgings.

The above table comprises the exports of 62 countries, which represents approximately 94.8 per cent of total world trade in 2022.

World trade in steel by area
2022

million tonnes

* Excluding intra-regional trade marked

Major importers and exporters of steel 2022

million tonnes

(1) Excluding intra-regional trade
(2) Data for individual European Union (27) countries include intra-European trade

Indirect trade in steel
2000 to 2019

million tonnes, finished steel equivalent

An explanation of the methodology of indirect trade in steel can be found in the report ‘Indirect Trade in Steel (March 2015)’ at worldsteel.org/publications/reports.

Last updated in May 2021.

True steel use
2015 to 2019

million tonnes, finished steel equivalent

(1) The total comprises 74 countries.

Major indirect importers and exporters of steel, 2019

million tonnes, finished steel equivalent

*Data for individual European Union (27) countries include intra-European trade

Apparent and true steel use per capita, 2019

kilograms, finished steel equivalent

Steel use by sector

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In addition to this World Steel in Figures publication, worldsteel releases data on a monthly and annual basis. A selection of this data is available for free at https://worldsteel.org/steel-topics/statistics/.

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Notation used in this publication:

(e)	indicates a figure that has been estimated.
0.0	indicates that the quantity concerned is less than 0.05.
–	indicates zero or no data.

While worldsteel statistics and estimations are accurate at the time of release and represent our current judgement, they are subject to change that could cause actual results to differ materially. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these statistics. worldsteel accepts no responsibility for any business decisions taken on the basis of the data in this publication.