Exclusive Global pig iron production fell to 115.1 million tons in July

105.7 million tons were produced using the blast furnace method, and 9.5 million tons – using the direct reduction method

Global pig iron production in July 2025 decreased by 4.4% compared to July 2024, to 115.1 million tons. Compared to the previous month, the figure fell by 0.2%. This is evidenced by data from the World Steel Association, according to Ukrmetprom.

In July, 105.7 million tons of pig iron were produced by the blast furnace method, which is 3.9% less than in July 2024 and 1% less than in June, and 9.5 million tons (-12.4% y/y; -11.9% m/m) were produced by the direct reduction method.

In January-July, pig iron output decreased by 1.1% compared to the same period last year, to 813.7 million tons. Direct reduction produced 73.7 million tons, and blast furnace production produced 740.02 million tons.

The largest pig iron producing countries for the period are:

• China – 505.83 million tons (-1.3% y/y);
• India – 89.24 million tons (+7.7% y/y);
• Russia – 34.8 million tons (-0.4% y/y);
• Japan – 34.34 million tons (-4.1% y/y);
• South Korea – 25.1 million tons (-1% y/y).

Ukraine ranks 13th among 40 pig iron producing countries – 4.36 million tons in January-July (+6.7% y-o-y) and 692.1 thousand tons in July (+11.4% y-o-y; +4.6% m-o-m).

As GMK Center reported earlier, in 2024, global pig iron production decreased by 1.3% compared to 2023, to 1.391 billion tons. Blast furnace production amounted to 1.265 billion tons of pig iron, down 1.6% y/y, while direct reduction production amounted to 125.57 million tons (+4.5% y/y).

The largest pig iron producing countries in 2024 were China – 851.74 million tons (-2.3% y/y), India – 144.91 million tons (+6.7% y/y), Japan – 61.03 million tons (-3.2% y/y), Russia – 58.99 million tons (-5.4% y/y), and South Korea – 44.11 million tons (-2.4% y/y).