Global pig iron production increased by 1.9% y/y in January-July

In January-July 2023, global pig iron production increased by 1.9% compared to the same period in 2022, to 838.42 million tons. In July, global pig iron production amounted to 122.7 million tons, which is 6.8 % over y/y and 1.7% m/m. Ukrmetallurgprom reports about it with the reference to WorldSteel Association data.

The world production of pig iron by the blast-furnace method in January-July of the current year amounted to 771.24 million tons, and by the direct reduction method – 67.18 million tons.

The largest pig iron producing countries in January-July 2023 are:

• China – 528.92 million tons (+3.5% y/y);
• India – 77.34 million tons (+9.9% y/y);
• Japan – 37.07 million tons (-3.2% y/y).

Ukraine for January-July 2023 produced 3.37 million tons of pig iron, which is 29.9% less compared to the same period in 2022. Thus, the country ranks 16th in the ranking of global iron producers. In July, 538 thousand tons of pig iron were smelted (+10.7% m/m).

As GMK Center reported earlier, in 2022, world production of pig iron decreased by 3% compared to 2021 – to 1.39 billion tons. 1.28 billion tons of pig iron were produced by the blast furnace method, and 110.52 million tons – by DRI/

In the top three pig iron production leaders in 2022: China – 863.83 million tons (-0.8% y/y), India – 121.9 million tons (+4.4% y/y) , Japan – 64.1 million tons (-8.8% y/y). In 2022, Ukraine took 15th place in the ranking of world pig iron producers with an indicator of 6.39 million tons (-69.8% y/y).

Global steel production in 2022 decreased by 10.8% compared to 2021 – to 140.7 million tons. In the top three there were China – 1.013 billion tons (-2.1% y/y), India – 124, 7 million tons (+5.5% y/y), Japan – 89.2 million t (-7.4% y/y). Ukraine took 25th place with a result of 6.3 million tons (-70.7% y/y).