In March this year, world pig iron production amounted to 102.11 million mt, rising by 10.8 percent compared to February and increasing by two 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 first quarter of this year, world pig iron production totaled 292.67 million mt, up by 3.6 percent compared to the same quarter last year.
In March, pig iron output in Asia amounted to 79.62 million mt, up 1.6 percent, with 61.99 million mt produced by China, up 1.3 percent, 6.56 million mt produced by Japan, down 2.7 percent, and 5.8 million mt produced by India, increasing by 7.2 percent - with all comparisons on year-on-year basis. Meanwhile, in the same month, EU countries produced 8.01 million mt of pig iron, up 1.1 percent, while the CIS produced 6.85 million mt, up 2.6 percent, both on year-on-year basis.