So you know all about the world’s top five steel producing countries from our last article titled, ‘Which Counties Are The World’s Top Five Producers of Steel?’ However, have you ventured to learn about the other top five countries that make up the list of ten largest producers of steel worldwide?
In our previous articles, we topped the list of steel producing countries with the People’s Republic of China, Japan, the Republic of India, the United States of America and the Russian Federation. Of these countries, the People’s Republic of China has the most domineering and imposing footprint. In 2015, the People’s Republic of China, accounted for 50.3% of global steel production.
However, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t other countries contributing to the production of the steel we use to build our buildings, bridges and roads! Read more to find out which countries complete our list of the world’s top ten steel producing countries.
1. The Republic of Korea
North Korea may be capitalising on child labour and nuclear proliferation, but South Korea is leading the world in other ways. South Korea produced over 68 million metric tonnes of steel in 2016. Despite the large amount of steel production, South Korea still imports a lot of their steel.
As far as exports are concerned, South Korea has found a market exporting their crude steel to the People’s Republic of China, the United States of America and Japan. Each of these countries top the list of steel producers, so why import from South Korea? Because the quality is unmatched.
POSCO and Hyundai Steel Co. alone have produced over 30 million metric tonnes annually on average for the past decade!
2. Germany
German steel is renowned for it’s high quality as well as being one of the largest producers of crude steel worldwide. In 2016 Germany produced a ‘modest’ 42.1 million metric tonnes of crude steel. German-made steel continues to be a big seller and is popularly used by French, Polish and Dutch businesses for major infrastructure construction and developing high quality steel goods.
German steel is expected to rise up the list over the next decade according to experts. There is also a high demand for German steel in the production of automotive goods and military grade weaponry.
Some of the biggest steel producers from Germany include ThyssenKrupp, Salzgitter and ArcelorMittal.
3. The Republic of Turkey
The Republic of Turkey has suffered a decline in production due to the socio-political influences enacting on the country’s economy. However, despite political upheaval, Turkey’s steel production has risen sharply from 31.5 million metric tonnes to 33.2 million metric tonnes from 2016 to 2017.
Just to give you some perspective on how significant a change that is, it equates to roughly a 9.7$ growth spurt in the course of a year! Turkey’s exports also increased by 2% from 14.8 million metric tonnes in 2015 all the way to over 15 million metric tonnes in the year 2016.
Turkey supplies crude steel to make on if it’s neighbouring countries, such as Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. Some of their largest steel producing companies are Erdemir Group, Habas and Içdas.
4. The Federative Republic of Brazil
Brazil has suffered from a severe economic downturn which has had an immediate impact on their crude steel production. The overall figures estimate that from 2015 to 2016, the Federative Republic of Brazil went down to 30.2 million metric tonnes (a loss of about three million metric tonnes!).
The National Steel Association of Brazil reported that more than 40,000 jobs in the sector had been lost as well as the closure of over 83 functioning crude steel production units.
Although Brazil has been a leading world supplier of steel for many years now, it is looking like their influence on global steel production is waning in light of economic issues.
5. Ukraine
Ukraine is yet another country that has suffered a nosedive over the past ten years since the global financial crisis. Military conflict has also put Ukraine in the spotlight in terms of world news. Both of these, as well as multitude of other reasons, have contributed to the Ukraine dropping two positions in the global top ten steel producing countries list.
As of a recent survey, the Ukraine has produced 24.2. million metric tonnes. It’s overall exports had diminished by 30% to only exporting 18.2 million metric tonnes.
Despite the issues Ukraine is having with steel production, they are still reliable exporters of crude steel to Egypt, Italy and Turkey. Unlike the troubles facing the Federative Republic of Brazil, it is expected that the Ukraine will be able to recover from it’s economic issues soon.
