A report by WorldSteel suggests India overtook Japan in its crude steel production capabilities in 2017
India has apparently replaced Japan to occupy the place of the second largest steel producing country in the world, according to a report compiled by the World Steel Association, the international trade body for the iron and steel industry. India trails after China, which leads the world with 51% of the total crude steel production in the world.
The global steel body declared in a press release that total crude steel production reached 1,808.6 million tons in 2018. This accounts for a 4.6% rise as compared to the crude steel production of 2017 which was estimated to be 1,729.8 million tons.
China's crude steel output increased from 870.9 million tons in 2017 to 928.3 million tons in 2018 accounting for a 6.6% rise in production. On a global basis, China’s share in the crude steel production increased to 51.3% in 2018 from 50.3% in 2017.
WorldSteel said in its official statement that India produced 101.5 million tons of crude steel in 2017, which increased to 106.5 million tons in 2018 accounting for a 4.9% spike in the crude steel production of the country. On the other hand, Japan’s crude steel production went down by 0.3%, with the country having produced 104.3 million tons in 2018. This factor helped India overtake Japan in the crude steel production ranking.
Among the other top 10 countries in crude steel production, the United States captured the 4th position by producing 86.7 million tons of crude steel in 2018 followed by South Korea with 72.5 million tons, Russia with 71.7 million tons, Germany 42.4 million tons, Turkey 37.3 million tons, Brazil 34.7 million tons and Iran 25 million tons.
Other large crude steel producing countries include Italy which produced 24.5 million tons of crude steel in 2018, Ukraine which produced 21.1 million tons, 15.4 million tons and 14.3 million tons of crude steel were produced by France and Spain respectively which also deserve a special mention.
