In January this year, global pig iron production amounted to 94.03 million metric tons, increasing by 0.08 percent compared to December and down 3.15 percent on year-on-year basis, according to the preliminary data covering 38 countries accounting for approximately 99 percent of total world blast furnace pig iron production, released by the World Steel Association (worldsteel).

In January, pig iron output in Asia amounted to 70.97 million mt, down 4.72 percent, with 54.29 million mt produced by China, down 7.57 percent, 7.22 million mt produced by Japan, up 2.86 percent, and 4.47 million mt produced by India, up 5.36 percent - with all comparisons on year-on-year basis.

Meanwhile, in the same month EU countries produced 8.34 million mt of pig iron, while the CIS produced 7.02 million mt, with an increase of 10.41 percent and a decrease of 0.05 percent respectively, year on year.