Current Steel Economic Trends

Steel is an economic barometer of progress. Steel has slowly been replaced by plastics and synthetics in some vital areas of construction. But steel is still a very good economic indicator of how countries are progressing in a global market. Steel is a basic staple in the economy.

Who ranks at the top of production in the current market?

As of 2010, China reigned in as top producer, which accounted for 44.3% of world steel production. China is a major producer and a major consumer. China is booming. The numbers are consistently proving this.

In 2008 and 2009, the production of steel fell. But in 2010, steel production was back on the rise. What companies are top producers?

Top Crude Steel Producers 2010: (Wikipedia)
1. China – 626.7 [million tonnes]
1. European Union – 172.9
2. Japan – 109.6
3. United States – 80.6
4. Russia – 67.0
5. India – 66.8
6. South Korea – 58.5
7. Germany – 43.8
8. Ukraine – 33.6
9. Brazil – 32.8
10. Turkey – 29.0

Steel Trends
Production of steel has grown exponentially — from 28 million tonnes to 781 million tonnes, in the 20th century. Consumption of steel increased at an average annual rate of 3.3%. Today, the production is of 800 million tons per year. Overall, the steel industry is thriving. The demographics are changing.

In 1900, the USA was producing 37% of the world’s steel.

Now Asia produces 40%, Europe 36%, and North America only 14.5%.

Cyclical economic trends seem to run parallel with steel production. However, steel production in western countries is a “sunset industry”. In developing countries, steel production is a “sunrise industry”. Those countries such as China, Brazil, India, and South Korea.

China produced 220.1 million tonnes in 2003, 272.2 million tonnes in 2004 and 349.36 million tonnes in 2005. That is much above the production in 2005 of Japan at 112.47 million tonnes, the USA at 93.90 million tonnes and Russia at 66.15 million tonnes.

India is the country that is growing rapidly and it is the one to watch. Steel production in India is expected to reach 124 million tons by 2012 and 275 million tons by 2020. India is expected to be second in the world if its growth continues.

The most depressing part about the report is the downsizing of the workforce in the industry. Steel was a major player in the second half of the 20th century. Sadly, that trend has reversed in the United States. This has been a huge factor in the unemployment sector.

From 1974 to 1999, workers were starting to hit unemployment lines in record numbers. At least the workers that were not quite yet old enough to retire. In the United States, manpower fell from 521,000 to 153,000 during these years.

In Japan, it was 459,000 – 208,000. In Germany, it was 232,000 – 78,000. In UK, it was 197,000 – 31,000. In Brazil, it was 118,000 – 59,000. In South Africa, it was 100,000 – 54,000. It was only 58,000 in 1999 for South Korea.

In the last 25 years alone, the steel industry has seen a reduction in the workforce by 1,500,000. This number is representative of the global workforce reduction.

It is extremely clear that steel production is growing tremendously; while steel workers are declining in numbers.