Global pig iron production in 2024 decreased by 1.3% y/y

Global pig iron production in 2024 decreased by 1.3% compared to 2023 to 1.391 billion tons. This was reported by Ukrmetalurgprom with reference to the WorldSteel Association.

World pig iron production by the blast furnace method amounted to 1.265 billion tons for the year, which is 1.6% less than y/y, and by the direct reduction method – 125.57 million tons (+4.5% y/y).

The largest pig iron producing countries 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).

In December, global pig iron production increased by 6.5% compared to December 2023, and by 2.8% compared to the previous month – to 114.74 million tons. The company produced 105.69 million tons (+10.7% y/y, +4.8% m/m) by the blast furnace method and 9.05 million tons (-15.7% y/y, -6.3% m/m) by the direct reduction method.

In 2024, Ukraine produced 7.09 million tons of pig iron, up 18.1% compared to 2023. In December, the figure amounted to 565.4 thousand tons (+1.6% y/y; +4.1% m/m). Thus, the country ranks 13th in the ranking of global pig iron producers.

Global steel production in 2024 decreased by 0.9% compared to 2023 – to 1.839 billion tons.

As GMK Center reported earlier, in 2023, global pig iron production 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 by direct reduction.

The top three countries for pig iron production 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 global pig iron producers with 6 million tons (-6.1% y/y).