Seven China steelmakers make it to global top 10

Chinese steelmakers raced in 2020 ahead when the rest of the world was still grappling with the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Seven Chinese steelmakers ranked among the top 10 global steel producers with China’s Baowu Group ranking first followed by ArcelorMittal, and then China’s HBIS Group, Shagang Group placed third and fourth. Japan’s Nippon and South Korea’s Posco ranked five and six followed by four Chinese steelmakers Ansteel Group, Jianlong Group, Shougang Group and Shandong Steel Group, according to World Steel Association data.

Posco slipped to the sixth rank, a notch below its ranking in 2019. The steelmaker’s crude production fell 40.58mn mt in 2020, down by 5.9pc from 2019. While Hyundai’s crude production fell by 8.1pc to 19.81mn mt taking it to 16th rank down from 15th in 2019.

Global crude steel output hit 1,878mn mt in 2020, up 0.5pc from 2019, while China’s production rose by 7.0pc to 1,064.8mn mt in the same period. India produced 1,000.3mn mt, Japan 83.2mn mt, US 72.7mn mt, Russia 71.6mn mt and South Korea 67.1mn mt in 2020.