About steel
Editorial · sourcedWhat is the steel product group?
World crude-steel output reached ~1,900 million metric tons in 2025 per USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 — Iron and Steel, with the top five producers being China (980 Mt), India (160 Mt), the United States (82 Mt), Japan (81 Mt) and Russia (65 Mt). Crude steel itself is not traded as a commodity; instead, five downstream product forms reach the seaborne market with regulated benchmark prices: hot-rolled coil (HRC) for flat-product manufacturing, rebar (deformed bar) for construction, plate for shipbuilding and pipelines, stainless steel for corrosion-resistant applications, and ferrous scrap for the electric-arc-furnace (EAF) recycling route. TSM Hub tracks all five.
How steel products are priced
Five regulated benchmarks dominate global seaborne pricing, all cash-settled cleared on the London Metal Exchange Ferrous complex:
- HRC FOB China — settled against the Argus FOB China HRC assessment; the Asian export benchmark.
- HRC North-West Europe — settled against the Platts NWE HRC index.
- HRC North America — settled against Platts HRC US Midwest.
- Steel Rebar FOB Turkey — settled against Platts FOB Turkey rebar (Turkey is the world's #1 long-products exporter).
- Steel Scrap CFR Turkey — settled against Platts CFR Turkey HMS 1/2 80:20 scrap, the global scrap benchmark.
Where steel comes from
World crude-steel production in 2025e (USGS MCS 2026): China 980 Mt, India 160, United States 82, Japan 81, Russia 65, South Korea 60, Germany 38, Turkey 37, Brazil 35, Iran 32. The US route mix in 2025 was approximately 28% integrated blast-furnace / basic-oxygen-furnace (BF-BOF) and 72% electric-arc-furnace (EAF) — the EAF share has risen for two decades as scrap-fed mini-mills expand. China remains predominantly BF-BOF integrated, while EAF dominates in the US, Turkey, and the Gulf states. See World Steel Association statistics for monthly country production and Iron Ore for the upstream raw material.
Who produces steel
The 2025 World Steel Association top-50 list is dominated by Chinese groups but globally diversified at the top. Top 10: China Baowu Group, ArcelorMittal (Luxembourg, includes 60% AM/NS India), Nippon Steel (Japan, includes US Steel since 2024), Ansteel, HBIS, POSCO (South Korea), Tata Steel (India), JSW Steel, Shougang Group, JFE Steel. Largest Western non-Chinese producers: Nucor (US, world's largest EAF group), Cleveland-Cliffs, thyssenkrupp Steel, voestalpine, SAIL (India).
What steel is used for
US apparent consumption of steel mill products in 2025 was ~95 Mt per USGS. End-use shares are stable globally:
- Construction — ~50% (rebar and structural sections for buildings, bridges, infrastructure).
- Transport — ~16% (automotive body sheet from HRC, ship hulls from plate, rail).
- Mechanical equipment — ~14% (machinery, industrial plant).
- Metal goods — ~13% (containers, fasteners, tools).
- Electrical equipment — ~3%, domestic appliances ~2%, others.
Key facts about steel supply
- Steel and ferrous scrap are not on the USGS 2025 Critical Minerals list (large diversified supply); metallurgical coal — the BF-BOF feedstock — is critical as of the 2022 review.
- The EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM, Regulation 2023/956) entered its definitive period on 1 January 2026, covering iron, steel and aluminium imports. Importers must surrender CBAM certificates reflecting embedded CO₂ of imported goods.
- US ferrous scrap apparent consumption in 2025 was ~57 Mt at a recycling rate of 80-90% (USGS MCS 2026 Iron-Steel Scrap chapter). Steel is the most recycled material in the world by mass.
- Reserves are not applicable to steel itself — see the Iron Ore page for upstream raw-material reserves and USGS MCS 2026 Iron-Steel Scrap for recycling-stream data.