The global steel industry might see a decline in 2026, reinforcing the downward trajectory observed throughout 2025. Data from the 69 nations tracked by the World Steel Association shows a series of decreases: 6.5% in January, 2.2% in February, 4.2% in March, and 1.9% in April. As a result, total crude steel production for the first four months of 2026 reached 613.3 million tonnes, marking a 2% decrease compared to the previous year.
Looking at individual geographical macro-regions, Asia and Oceania lost 1.3% annually, while the European Union showed a slowdown of -1.8%. Sharper declines were recorded by the Russia, other CIS countries, and Ukraine region at -13.4%, and by the Middle East with -27.6%. Conversely, a positive sign was seen in Africa at +11.5%, North America at +6.9%, Other Europe at +4.2%, and South America, which posted +3.1%.
In the ranking of top producers, China, the global leader, slowed its decline and lost 2.8% year-on-year in April. Meanwhile, growth continues for India (+3.9%) and the United States (+9.4%). Japan remained stable (+0.3%), while South Korea managed to increase output by 4.8%, thereby displacing a contracting Russia (-12.4%) from the fifth position in the global ranking. Data was also positive for Turkey (+9.4%), Germany (+9.5%), Brazil (+2.8%), and Vietnam (+4%).
Regarding Italy, domestic production in April amounted to 1.9 million tonnes, an increase of 7.2% year-on-year. According to Federacciai data, in the first four months of 2026 it reached 7.6 million tonnes of crude steel, a growth of 2.9%.
This growth was primarily driven by the Italian long products sector (+12.3% for the month and +10.5% cumulatively), while the flat products sector continues to struggle (-9.3% year-on-year and -6.7% in the four-month period).
Stainless steel
Global stainless steel production closed the first quarter of 2026 in growth. According to data released by worldstainless, global output reached 15.8 million tonnes, marking a 2.5% increase compared to Q1 2025.
The result was driven by the Asian region (+3.3%) and the United States (+2.3%), while the European Union was down (-4.6%). Performance also increased in other countries, reaching 300,000 tonnes, an improvement of 6.7%.
Pig iron and DRI
The first four months of the year were also characterized by a contraction in global pig iron production. According to data released by worldsteel, between January and April, output stood at 456.35 million tonnes, down 1.67% compared to the same period in 2025.
Looking at individual countries, China showed a 3.1% reduction in the four-month period compared to the same period in 2025, while India consolidated its growth with a +5.4% year-on-year trend. Japan fell by -1.8% and Russia dropped by 5.7%, while South Korea recorded an increase of 1.9%.
As for direct reduced iron (DRI), World Steel Association data indicates a 6.3% decrease in global production in the first four months of the year.
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