World Steel Statistics recently released by the World Steel Association
Crude steel production
Global crude steel production in 2022 was 1.885 billion tons, down 3.9% y-o-y. China’s crude steel production reached 1.018 billion tons in 2022, down 1.7% y-o-y and down for the second consecutive year, with production accounting for 54.0% of the world, up from 52.8% in 2021.
Steel Production path
In terms of production path, the global share of steel production in 2022 is 71.5% for converter steel and 28.2% for electric furnace steel.
Steel exports
Global steel (finished + semi-finished) exports in 2022 are 402 million tons, down 12.5% year-on-year.
Apparent consumption
In terms of apparent consumption, global apparent consumption of finished steel products in 2022 is 1.781 billion tons, down 4.0% year-on-year; global apparent consumption of finished steel products per capita is 221.8 kg, down 11.2 kg year-on-year. South Korea still ranks first in the world in terms of apparent per capita consumption of finished steel products, at 988 kg.
Iron ore production & trade
In 2022, global pig iron production is 1.301 billion tons, down 3.7% year-on-year; apparent consumption is 1.301 billion tons, down 3.9% year-on-year. 2022 global direct reduced iron production is 125 million tons, up 4.9% year-on-year.
In 2022, global iron ore trade volume is 1.587 billion tons, down 4.6% year-on-year.
In 2021, global iron ore production is 2.477 billion tons, of which Australia produces 922 million tons of iron ore and Brazil produces 399 million tons, accounting for 53.4% of the combined iron ore production of the two countries.
Scrap trade
In 2022, global scrap exports were 98.6 million tons, up 0.1% year-on-year, and imports were 96 million tons, down 4.0% year-on-year.
The EU-27 is the world’s largest scrap exporting region, exporting a total of 43.5 million tons of scrap in 2022, accounting for 44.1% of total global scrap exports.
The U.S. is the world’s largest scrap exporter, exporting a total of 17.5 million tons of scrap in 2022, up 10.1% year-over-year, accounting for 17.7% of total global scrap exports.
Turkey is the world’s largest scrap importer, importing a total of 21.1 million tons of scrap in 2022, down 13.2% year on year, accounting for 22.0% of total global scrap imports.
In 2022, China exported zero scrap steel and imported 558,900 tons of recycled steel materials.
