World Steel in Figures 2019

The World Steel Association (worldsteel) has published the 2019 edition of World Steel in Figures. The publication provides a comprehensive overview of steel industry activities, stretching from crude steel production to apparent steel use, from indications of global steel trade flows to iron ore production and trade.

Edwin Basson, Director General of worldsteel, said, “The steel industry remains at the heart of global development. In our April Short Range Outlook, we forecast that in 2019 and 2020 global steel demand was expected to continue to grow, but growth rates would moderate in tandem with a slowing global economy. However, uncertainty over the trade environment and volatility in the financial markets continue and could pose downside risks to this forecast. At the time of writing this, nothing has changed.

As always, we have had a very busy year of activity in worldsteel. We recently concluded a global economic modelling exercise with Oxford Economics that found that in 2017 the steel industry sold US$2.5 trillion worth of products and created US$500 billion value added. For every $1 of value that is added by work within the steel industry itself, a further $2.50 of value-added activity is supported across other sectors of the global economy because of purchases of raw materials, goods, energy and services. This generates over US$1.2 trillion of value added”.

Source: Worldsteel