Exclusive Global pig iron production fell to 119.7 million tons in May

107.2 million tons were produced using the blast furnace method, and 12.5 million tons using the direct reduction method

Global pig iron production in May 2025 decreased by 1.5% compared to May 2024, to 119.7 million tons. Compared to the previous month, the figure increased by 2.1%. This is evidenced by data from the World Steel Association, according to Ukrmetprom.

In May, 107.2 million tons of pig iron were produced by the blast furnace method, which is 3.1% less than in May 2024 and 2% more than in April, and 12.5 million tons (-6.7% y/y; +2.5% m/m) were produced by the direct reduction method.

In January-May, pig iron production decreased by 0.3% compared to the same period last year, to 583.28 million tons. Direct reduction produced 53.5 million tons, and blast furnaces produced 529.78 million tons.

The largest pig iron producing countries for the period are:

• China – 362.74 million tons (0.1% y/y);
• India – 63.63 million tons (+7.5% y/y);
• Russia – 24.95 million tons (-1% y/y);
• Japan – 24.52 million tons (-4.2% y/y);
• South Korea – 17.64 million tons (-2% y/y).

Ukraine ranks 14th among 40 pig iron producing countries – 3.01 million tons in January-May (+5.9% y-o-y) and 644.7 thousand tons in May (-1.3% y-o-y; -2.3% 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-o-y, while direct reduction production amounted to 125.57 million tons (+4.5% y-o-y).

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