Steel is an important component of the modern industry and
economy, as it is vital for the construction of automobiles, buildings and many
other infrastructures and appliances that we use in our daily lives.
The Infographic uses data from the World Steel Association to visualize the top steel-producing countries in the world, and highlights China’s rise to the top, as it now makes up more than half of the world’s steel production.
The State of Global Steel Production
Global steel production in 2022 reached 1,878 million tons, hardly
exceeding the pre-pandemic production of 1,875 million tons in 2019.
|
Country |
2022 Production (in million tons) |
Annual Production Change |
Global Share |
|
China |
1013.0 |
-2.0% |
53.9% |
|
India |
124.8 |
5.3% |
6.6% |
|
Japan |
89.2 |
-7.9% |
4.8% |
|
United States |
80.5 |
-6.5% |
4.3% |
|
Russia |
71.5 |
-5.8% |
3.8% |
|
South Korea |
65.9 |
-6.9% |
3.5% |
|
Germany |
36.8 |
-8.8% |
2.0% |
|
Turkey |
35.1 |
-15.0% |
1.9% |
|
Brazil |
34.0 |
-6.5% |
1.8% |
|
Iran |
30.6 |
6.8% |
1.6% |
|
Italy |
21.6 |
-13.0% |
1.1% |
|
Taiwan |
20.7 |
-12.1% |
1.1% |
|
Vietnam |
20.0 |
-15.0% |
1.1% |
|
Mexico |
18.2 |
-1.9% |
1.0% |
|
Indonesia |
15.6 |
8.3% |
0.8% |
|
Rest of World |
201.0 |
-11.2% |
10.7% |
2022’s steel production marked a significant reduction
compared to the post-pandemic rebound of 1,960 million tons in 2021, with a
year-over-year decline of 4.2%–the largest drop since 2009, and prior to that,
1991.
This drop was spread across many of the world’s top steel
producers, and included only three of the top fifteen countries, India, Iran,
and Indonesia, which increased their yearly production. Most of the other top
steel-producing countries saw annual production drops of more than 5%, including
Turkey, Italy, Taiwan, and Vietnam’s production all falling by double digits.
Even the world’s top steel-producing nation, China,
experienced a modest 2% decline, which due to the country’s large production
amounted to a decline of 19.8 million tons, this figure is more than many other
nations produce in a year.
Despite India, the world’s second-largest steel producer,
increasing its production by 5.3%, the country’s output still amounts to just
over one-tenth of the steel produced by China.
China’s Meteoric Rise in Steel Production
Although China leads the world’s steel production with more
than a 54% share today, this has not always been the situation.
In 1967, the World Steel Association’s first recorded year
of steel production figures, China only produced an estimated 14 million tons,
making up barely 3% of global output. At that time, the U.S. and the USSR were
competing as the world’s lead steel producers at 115 and 102 million tons
respectively, followed by Japan at 62 million tons.
Almost three decades later in 1996, China had successively
overtaken Russia, the U.S., and Japan to become the top steel-producing nation
with 101 million tons of steel produced that year.
The early 2000s was the era when China had rapid growth,
with constant double-digit percentage increases in steel production each year.
The Recent Decline in China’s Steel Production
Since the early 2000s, China’s average yearly growth in
steel production has slowed to 3.4% over the last decade (2013-2022), a great drop
compared to the previous decade’s (2003-2012) 15.2% average yearly growth rate.
The past couple of years have seen decline in China’s steel
production, specifically 2021 & 2022 marked the first time the country’s
production fell for two consecutive years.
Even though it is improbable for China to turn down its
position as the top steel-producing nation anytime soon, it has to be seen yet whether
this recent decline marks the start of a new trend or is only a short-lived
deviation from the country’s constant production growth.
