Global pig iron production fell by 6.7% m/m in August

In August 2024, the global production of pig iron fell by 6.7% compared to the previous month – to 112.57 million tons. Compared to August 2023, the indicator decreased by 5.8%. This is reported by the OP Ukrmetalurgprom with reference to WorldSteel Association data.

World production of pig iron by the blast furnace method for the month amounted to 102.31 million tons (-6.9% m/m; -6.6% y/y), and by DRI method – 10.26 million tons (-5 % m/m; -0.3% y/y).

In January-August 2024, global pig iron production decreased by 2.3% compared to the same period in 2023 – to 937.28 million tons. In particular, 854.58 million tons of iron were produced by the blast furnace method, and by DRI method – 82.7 million tons

The largest countries producing pig iron in January-August are:

• China – 577.7 million tons (-4.3% y/y);
• India – 94.57 million tons (+6.2% y/y);
• Japan – 40.96 million tons (-3.5% y/y);
• Russian Federation – 39.83 million tons (-4.5% y/y);
• South Korea – 29.32 million tons (-1.9% y/y).

Ukraine for August produced 644 thousand tons of pig iron, which is 3.6% more compared to the previous month, and 20.7% y/y. For 8 months, the indicator was 4.73 million tons (+21.1% y/y). Thus, the country ranks 13th in the ranking of world iron producers.

In 2023, world production of pig iron increased by 1.1% compared to 2022 – to 1.41 billion tons. In 2023, 1.29 billion tons were produced by the blast furnace method, and 120.15 million tons were produced by DRI method.

In the top three pig iron production leaders in 2022: China – 871.01 million tons (+0.7% y/y), India – 135.07 million tons (+10.6% y/y), Japan – 63.04 million tons (-1.7% y/y). In 2023, Ukraine took 16th place in the ranking of world pig iron producers with an indicator of 6 million tons (-6.1% y/y).

As GMK Center reported, global steel production in 2023 decreased by 0.1% compared to 2022 – to 1.85 billion tons. The top three producing countries: China – 1.019 billion tons (+0% y/y), India – 140.2 million tons (+11.8% y/y), Japan – 87 million t (-2.5% y/y). Ukraine took 24th place with a result of 6.2 million tons (-0.6% y/y).