In March this year, world pig iron production amounted to 99.71 million mt, decreasing by two percent compared to the same month of 2014 and increasing by 7.8 percent compared to the previous month, according to the preliminary data covering 38 countries accounting for approximately 99 percent of total world blast furnace pig iron production, released by the World Steel Association (worldsteel).
Meanwhile, in the first quarter of this year, world pig iron production totaled 292.12 million mt, up 8.29 percent compared to the same period of 2014.
In March, pig iron output in Asia amounted to 77.8 million mt, up 7.9 percent, with 60.25 million mt produced by China, increasing by 6.9 percent, 7.14 million mt produced by Japan, up 11.95 percent, and 5.04 million mt produced by India, increasing by 10.7 percent - with all comparisons on year-on-year basis. Meanwhile, in the same period, EU countries produced 8.39 million mt of pig iron, up 10.04 percent, while the CIS produced 6.12 million mt, up 6.86 percent, both on year-on-year basis.