Global pig iron production increased by 8% m/m in October

Global pig iron production in October 2024 increased by 8% compared to the previous month to 118.3 million tons. Compared to October 2023, the figure increased by 2.5%. This is reported by Ukrmetalurgprom with reference to data from the WorldSteel Association.

World pig iron production by the blast furnace method amounted to 104.93 million tons for the month (+5% m/m; +0.5% y/y), and by the direct reduction method – 13.37 million tons (+38.7% m/m; +21.7% y/y).

In January-October 2024, global pig iron production decreased by 2.2% compared to the same period in 2023 – to 1.16 billion tons. In particular, 1.06 billion tons of pig iron were produced by the blast furnace method, and 105.71 million tons by the direct reduction method.

The largest pig iron producing countries in January-October were:

• China – 715.11 million tons (-4% y/y);
• India – 118.5 million tons (+5.6% y/y);
• Japan – 50.84 million tons (-4% y/y);
• Russia – 49.23 million tons (-5.6% y/y);
• South Korea – 36.86 million tons (-1.9% y/y).

Ukraine produced 624.9 thousand tons of pig iron in October, up 0.1% month-on-month and 22.2% y/y. For 10 months, the figure amounted to 5.98 million tons (+21.9% y/y). Thus, the country ranks 13th in the ranking of global pig iron producers.

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 the direct reduction method.

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 ranked 16th in the global pig iron production ranking with 6 million tons (-6.1% y/y).

As GMK Center reported earlier, global steel production in 2023 decreased by 0.1% compared to 2022 to 1.85 billion tons. The top three producing countries are: China – 1.019 billion tons (+0% y/y), India – 140.2 million tons (+11.8% y/y), Japan – 87 million tons (-2.5% y/y). Ukraine ranked 24th with 6.2 million tons (-0.6% y/y).