Crude steel production worldwide 2012-2020

In 2020, a total of around 1.86 billion metric tons of crude steel were produced worldwide. Steel is an alloy made by combining iron and other elements.

Global steel production overview

Steel is one of the most widely employed commodities in industrial production. As the global economy expands, the demand for steel increases, thus creating higher supply needs. For instance, over the past 15 years, the global stainless steel production more than doubled, up from 24 million metric tons in 2005 to over 52 million metric tons in 2019. In 2020, the estimated world crude steel demand was equivalent to over 1.7 billion tons and this number is forecasted to increase in 2021 in response to international industrialization. By 2021, the demand for steel in emerging markets is estimated to exceed 1.3 million metric tons, with the majority of this demand from China and India. Yet, various tariff and non-tariff barriers across countries create frictional circumstances for the global steel trade.

Growing steel recycling market

Countries all around the world are raising the capacity to recycle used steel at an increasing pace. Between 2018 and 2019, the demand for steel scrap increased by 3.4 percent. In 2019, the global scrap steel usage reached close to 491 million metric tons, up from 469 million metric tons in 2018. In the same year, Turkey accounted for over 18 million metric tons of steel scrap import. Although producing steel from scrap takes up less energy than primary production, in most cases it is still a highly polluting process, especially in developing countries, where the recycling process is less controlled.