Global pig iron production fell to a two-year low in September

Global pig iron production in September 2025 decreased by 0.5% compared to September 2024 to 110.5 million tons. Compared to the previous month, the figure fell by 5.8% and, as a result, reached its lowest level since December 2023. This is evidenced by the data of the World Steel Association WorldSteel, according to Ukrmetprom.

In September, the company produced 99.6 million tons of pig iron by the blast furnace method, which is 0.3% less than in September 2024 and 6.6% less than in August, and 10.9 million tons by the direct reduction method (+13.5% y/y; +1.9% m/m). Thus, the indicator was affected by low blast furnace production volumes, which also fell to a nearly two-year low, while direct reduction production is maintained above the monthly average (10.6 million tons in 2025).

In January-September, pig iron production decreased by 1% year-on-year to 1.04 billion tons. Direct reduction method produced 95.38 million tons, and blast furnace method – 946.16 million tons.

The largest countries producing pig iron in the period were:

• China – 645.86 million tons (-1.1% y/y);
• India – 114.86 million tons (+7.5% y/y);
• Russia – 44.13 million tons (-0.7% y/y);
• Japan – 43.95 million tons (-4% y/y);
• South Korea – 32.46 million tons (-1.8% y/y).

Ukraine ranks 13th among 40 countries producing pig iron – 5.79 million tons in January-September (+8.1% y/y), and 683.2 thousand tons in September (+9.5% y/y; -8.6% m/m).

As GMK Center reported earlier, global pig iron production in 2024 decreased by 1.3% compared to 2023 to 1.391 billion tons. The company produced 1.265 billion tonnes of pig iron in the year, down 1.6% y/y, and 125.57 million tonnes (+4.5% y/y) using the direct reduction method.

The largest countries producing pig iron in 2024 are 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), South Korea – 44.11 million tons (-2.4% y/y).