Figures released by the International Iron and Steel Institute (IISI) show that world crude steel production stood at 1.05 billion tonnes in 2004. This represents a worldwide increase in production of 8.8% compared to 2003. Excluding China, world production rose by 4.5% in 2004.

The following list details the top steel producing countries in 2004, including the percentage change in production tonnage compared to 2003.

• China, 272.5 million tonnes (+23.2%)
• Japan, 112.7 million tonnes (+2.0%)
• United States, 98.5 million tonnes (+5.2%)
• Russia, 64.3 million tonnes (+2.5%)
• South Korea, 47.5 million tonnes (+2.6%)
• Germany, 46.4 million tonnes (+3.6%)
• Ukraine, 38.7 million tonnes (+4.9%)
• Brazil, 32.9 million tonnes (+5.7%)
• India, 32.6 million tonnes (+2.7%)
• Italy, 28.3 million tonnes (+5.6%)

China is again the largest single country producer of crude steel. According to the most recent figures available to IISI, China produced 272.5 million tonnes of crude steel in 2004, an increase of 23.2% compared to 2003. China accounted for 25.8% of all world crude steel production in 2004. Other countries in the top ten listing exhibited significantly more modest increases in 2004.

Turkey was the 12th largest producer of crude steel in 2004 with production of 20.5 million tonnes, representing an increase of 11.9% compared to 2003. Additional countries exhibiting strong percentage increases in 2004 included Iran (8.7 million tonnes, up 10.3%), Kazakhstan (5.4 million tonnes, up 9.9%), and Thailand (4.5 million tonnes, up 26.0%).

Regional Growth—Production increases varied widely across the regions in 2004. Crude steel production in the Asian region stood at 499.3 million tonnes in 2004, an increase of 13.2% compared to 2003. Excluding China, production in the region grew by 3.0%.

Europe, with production of 337.2 million tonnes, was the second-largest steel-producing region in 2004. Europe’s total production includes 168.3 million tonnes (16% of total world production) for EU(15), and 111.8 million tonnes (10.6% of total production) for CIS. European production grew by 19.7% compared to 2003, while EU(15) production grew by 5.3% and CIS production grew by 51%.

North American production, 133.0 million tonnes, accounted for 12.6% of world crude steel production in 2004. The U.S. contributed 98.5 million tonnes to the North American total, accounting for 9.3% of total 2004 world production. North American production grew by 5.4% since 2003, while U.S. production fell by 5.1% over the same period.

South American production, 46.0 million tonnes, accounted for 4.4% of world crude steel production in 2004. Production represents a 6.9% increase over 2003 figures.

African production, 16.7 million tonnes, accounted for 1.6% of world crude steel production, while the Middle East produced 14.2 million tonnes or 1.3% of world crude steel production. African production was 2.2% higher in 2004 than 2003, while Middle Eastern production was 5.7% higher in 2004.

Crude steel production grew in all regions except Oceania, where production fell by 1.4% in 2004. Oceania production, 8.3 million tonnes, represents 0.8% of world crude steel production.

Regional growth varied even more drastically over the medium term. Comparing 1998 and 2004 production totals, Asia netted the largest percentage increase (+67.6%), followed by the Middle East (+54%), Africa (+30.5%), South America (+27.4%) and Europe (+19.7%). North American production grew by only 2.4% over the period, while production in Oceania fell by 14.4%.