Largest steel producers worldwide based on production volume 2021

In 2021, China’s Baowu Group was ranked as the world’s largest steel producer. China Baowu Group produced around 120 million metric tons of crude steel that year, around 40 million metric tons more than ArcelorMittal, which was second in the ranking.

The importance of steel

Not only is steel one of the most common metal alloys, but it is also one of the most extensively applied materials, particularly in shipbuilding and car manufacturing, as well as building construction and infrastructure development. In an effort to save cost and make the energy-thirsty steel industry more environmentally benign, steel scrap is collected from waste streams, wrecked automobiles, dismantled buildings, or other industrial sources and is melted into new products. Steel has one of the highest recycling rates among metals.

Difficult times

With global economies' headwinds, 2009 was a challenging year for the worldwide steel industry. The upheaval in the U.S. financial markets, slowing construction spending in China in tandem with a glut of Chinese steel, political instability in Russia and Ukraine, growing trade tensions between the United States and trade partners, as well as the eurozone sovereign debt crisis was slumped the steel manufacturing operations around the globe. 2020 saw a further disruption in global production as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. The health crisis led to a steel demand downturn, supply chain problems, and a metal price hike, which further impacted most companies through the pandemic. After the first half of 2020, steel production showed the first signs of recovery in the top 5 steel-producing countries. However, the post-lockdown supply and demand imbalances in the industry, the consequences of the Russia-Ukraine war, and the high inflation in advanced and emerging economies have been slowing down worldwide steel production.