Crude steel production by month in China 2021-2022
Significance of Chinese steel production
Over the past two decades, the coal-producing Chinese steel industry has increased its output significantly and has grown into the world’s largest crude steel producing country, accounting for over half of the global production in 2021. Among the leading ten global steelmakers in 2020, seven companies were from China. These large state-owned enterprises have dominated the Chinese steel industry. Baowu Group alone produced nearly 120 million metric tons of raw steel in 2021.
Other natural resources
With a total land area of 9.6 million square kilometers, China is one of the largest countries worldwide and in possession of large mineral deposits. China was by far the leading hard coal producing country worldwide, with a hard coal production volume of almost 3.58 billion metric tons in 2020. China has been the world’s largest aluminum producer with a total smelter production of approximately 39 million metric tons of aluminum in 2021. Also, China has the world’s largest reserves of zinc, antimony and many other nonferrous metals. Its annual rare earth production far exceeded the total for the rest of the world since the beginning of the decade.