According to the World Steel Statistics in 2022 recently released by the World Steel Association, the global crude steel output in 2021 was 1.951 billion tons, a year-on-year increase of 3.8%. In 2021, China’s crude steel output reached 1.033 billion tons, a year-on-year decrease of 3.0%, the first year-on-year decrease since 2016, and the proportion of output in the world fell from 56.7% in 2020 to 52.9%.

From the perspective of production path, in 2021, the global output of converter steel accounted for 70.8% and that of electric furnace steel accounted for 28.9%, a decrease of 2.4% and an increase of 2.6% respectively compared with 2020. The global average continuous casting ratio in 2021 was 96.9%, the same as that in 2020.

In 2021, the export volume of global steel products (finished products + semi-finished products) was 459 million tons, with a year-on-year increase of 13.1%. The export volume accounted for 25.2% of the output, returning to the level in 2019.

In terms of apparent consumption, the global apparent consumption of finished steel products in 2021 was 1.834 billion tons, a year-on-year increase of 2.7%. The apparent consumption of finished steel products in almost all countries included in the statistics increased to varying degrees, while the apparent consumption of finished steel products in China decreased from 1.006 billion tons in 2020 to 952 million tons, a decrease of 5.4%. In 2021, China’s apparent steel consumption accounted for 51.9% of the world, a decrease of 4.5 percentage points over 2020. Proportion of countries and regions in global consumption of main finished steel products

In 2021, the global per capita apparent consumption of finished steel was 232.8kg, a year-on-year increase of 3.8kg, slightly higher than the 230.4kg in 2019 before the outbreak, of which the per capita apparent consumption of steel in Belgium, Czech Republic, South Korea, Austria and Italy increased by more than 100kg. The per capita apparent consumption of finished steel products in South Korea