In May this year, world pig iron production amounted to 100.61 million mt, rising by 0.2 percent compared to April and decreasing by 0.2 percent compared to the same month of 2016, according to the preliminary data covering 38 countries accounting for approximately 99 percent of total world blast furnace pig iron production, as announced by the World Steel Association (worldsteel).
Meanwhile, in the January-May of this year, world pig iron production totaled 492.6 million mt, up by 2.7 percent compared to the same period last year.
In May, pig iron output in Asia amounted to 78.74 million mt, remaining almost stable, with 61.7 million mt produced by China, showing zero growth, 6.7 million mt produced by Japan, declining 2.1 percent, and 5.48 million mt produced by India, increasing by 3.3 percent - with all comparisons on year-on-year basis. Meanwhile, in the same month, EU countries produced 8.06 million mt of pig iron, up two percent, while the CIS produced 6.18 million mt, down 11.1 percent, both on year-on-year basis.