Current Steel Prices

Steel

Steel is an alloy made up of iron with typically a few tenths of a percent of carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Iron is made by removing oxygen and other impurities from iron ore. When iron is combined with carbon, recycled steel and small amounts of other elements it becomes steel. Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon containing less than 2% carbon and 1% manganese and small amounts of silicon, phosphorus, sulphur and oxygen. By far the most widely used material for building the world’s infrastructure and industries, it is used to fabricate everything from sewing needles to oil tankers.

Steel Origin And Distribution

Steel was known in antiquity and was produced in bloomeries and crucibles. The earliest known production of steel is seen in pieces of ironware excavated from an archaeological site in Anatolia and are nearly 4,000 years old, dating from 1800 BC. Proving to be harder and stronger than bronze, which had previously been the most widely used metal, iron began to displace bronze in weaponry and tools. The largest commercial steelmaking enterprise, Nippon Steel in Japan, was responsible for producing 26 million tons in 1987, and 11 other companies generally distributed throughout the world each had outputs of more than 10 million tons.

Steel Uses

Steel is the world’s most important engineering and construction material. It is used in the construction, automotive and aircraft industries, heavy industrial equipment, transport infrastructure, household appliances, weapons and so on. These are all things that have been shaping the world as we know it for several centuries. It can be recycled over and over again without loss of property.

Top Steel Producing Countries

Following are the major steel producing countries in the world:

1.       China
2.       India
3.       Japan
4.       United States
5.       Russia
6.       South Korea
7.       Turkey
8.       Germany
9.       Brazil
10.    Iran

Top steel importing countries

1.       United States
2.       Germany
3.       China
4.       South Korea
5.       Italy
6.       France
7.       Thailand
8.       Canada
9.       Netherlands
10.    Mexico

Steel production

In 2021, a total of around 1.95 billion metric tons of crude steel were produced worldwide. Steel is an alloy made by combining iron and other elements. Steel is one of the most widely employed commodities in industrial production. As the global economy expands, the demand for steel increases, thus creating higher supply needs. For instance, over the past 15 years, the global stainless steel production more than doubled, up from 24 million metric tons in 2005 to just under 51 million metric tons in 2020. In 2021, the estimated world crude steel demand was equivalent to over 1.7 billion tons and this number is forecasted to increase in 2021 in response to international industrialization. By 2022, the demand for steel in emerging markets is estimated to exceed 1.5 million metric tons, with the majority of this demand from China and India. Yet, various tariff and non-tariff barriers across countries create frictional circumstances for the global steel trade.

Steel trading

Steel Rebar is mostly traded on the Shanghai Futures Exchange and London Metal Exchange. The standard future contract is 10 tons. Steel is one of the world’s most important materials used in construction, cars and all sorts of machines and appliances.

Useful information on steel

•        Ministry of Steel : https://steel.gov.in/
•        World Steel Association : https://worldsteel.org/
•        Indian Steel Association : https://indsteel.org/