India’s growing presence in steel production

Global crude steel production fell 1.9% in 2025 to around 1.85 billion tonnes – with 69.4% produced in oxygen furnaces and 30.3% in electric furnaces.

These were the headline figures from BIR’s 17th edition of ‘World Steel Recycling’ set out by the ferrous division statistics advisor Rolf Willeke at the world recycling organisation’s convention in Gothenburg.

Direct reduced iron output, which grew 4.9% last year to around 153 million tonnes, is seen as an important indicator for the transition to ‘green’ steel. India remains the leading producer with a rise of 7.4% to around 58.9 million tonnes.

Indian growth

Total recycled steel usage was 4.5% higher last year at 480 million tonnes even though crude steel production fell 2.5%. China remains the world’s biggest recycled steel user with a consumption increase of 8.3% to 227 million tonnes despite its crude steel production falling 4.4%. India also reported significant increases in both recycled steel consumption and crude steel production.

Turkey remained the world’s foremost importer of recycled steel in 2025, followed by India. The EU-27 retained its status as the world´s leading recycled steel exporter in 2025 despite a 2% decline to 16.684 million tonnes.