According to the statistics of the World Steel Association, the production of blast furnace pig iron in 37 countries and regions in the world in the first half of 2023 was 658.8 million tons, an increase of 0.9%. In 2022, the production of blast furnace pig iron in these 37 countries and regions will account for about 98% of the world’s production.
In the first half of 2023, Asia’s blast furnace pig iron production increased by 2.4% year-on-year to 554 million tons. Among them, China’s production increased by 2.7% to 452 million tons, India increased by 6.8% to 42.721 million tons, Japan decreased by 4.4% to 31.587 million tons, and South Korea increased by 3.4% to 21.831 million tons.
Eu27 blast furnace pig iron production fell 12.4% year-on-year to 32.920 million tons. Among them, Germany’s production fell 0.6% year on year to 12.164 million tons, France fell 34.3% year on year to 2.88 million tons, Austria fell 4.2% year on year to 2.919 million tons, the Netherlands fell 22.7% year on year to 2.137 million tons, Poland fell 19.4% year on year to 1.375 million tons. The Czech Republic fell 18.7 percent year-on-year to 1.529 million tons, Spain fell 31.2 percent year-on-year to 1.322 million tons, and Italy fell 13.5 percent year-on-year to 1.602 million tons. Production in the rest of Europe fell 11.3% year-on-year to 6.935 million tonnes. Among them, Turkey’s production fell 16.1% year-on-year to 3.936 million tons, and UK production fell 2.3% year-on-year to 2.422 million tons.
Russia, other CIS countries and Ukraine together produced 31.616 million tons, down 1.8% year-on-year. Among them, Russia’s production increased by 4.9% year-on-year to 27.405 million tons, Ukraine fell by 37.5% year-on-year to 2.836 million tons, Kazakhstan fell by 9.8% year-on-year to 1.375 million tons. North American production is estimated to be down 3.4% year on year to 14.445 million tonnes. South American production fell 4.8% to 14.269 million tonnes. Production in Brazil fell 5.5% to 12.846 million tonnes. Argentina’s production rose 2.2 percent to 1.028 million tons. South African production rose 41.6% to 1.455 million tonnes. Iran’s production fell 3.9% year-on-year to 1.225 million tonnes. Oceania production fell 5.7% year-on-year to 2.085 million tonnes.
For direct reduced iron, the 13 countries counted by Worldsteel Association produced 56.95 million tons, an increase of 3.6%. In 2022, these 13 countries will account for about 91% of world production. Among them, India’s production increased by 14.0% year-on-year to 23.483 million tons. Iran’s production fell 5.5% year-on-year to 15.334,000 tonnes. Russian production fell 9.7% year-on-year to 3.797 million tonnes. Saudi Arabia’s production rose 1.0% to 3.375 million tonnes. Egypt’s production rose 11.3% year-on-year to 3.374 million tonnes. Mexican production fell 6.9% year-on-year to 2.625 million tonnes. Uae production fell 5.6% year-on-year to 1.511 million tonnes. Canadian production rose 10.8 per cent to 833,000 tonnes. Qatar’s production rose 8.4% year-on-year to 828,000 tonnes. Argentina’s production increased 7.2% year-on-year to 826,000 tonnes. Libyan production rose 17.2% year-on-year to 715,000 tonnes. In addition, Venezuela’s production fell 3.7 percent year-on-year to 127,000 tons, and South Africa’s production increased significantly by 58.4 percent year-on-year to 123,000 tons.
