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The World Steel Association’s recently released "World Steel Statistics for 2021" shows that the global crude steel output in 2020 is 1.878 billion tons, an increase of 0.5% year-on-year, and the compound annual growth rate of crude steel output from 2015 to 2020 is 3.0%. From the perspective of steelmaking technology, in 2020, the global converter steelmaking output will account for 73.2%, electric furnace steelmaking will account for 26.3%, and the global average continuous casting ratio will reach 96.9%. In 2020, China's crude steel output reached 1.053 billion tons, an increase of 5.2% year-on-year, and its output accounted for 56.7%, an increase of 12.2 percentage points from 2010.

In 2020, the global export volume of steel (finished and semi-finished products) was 400 million tons, a year-on-year decrease of 8.7%. The export volume accounted for 22.9% of output, which was the second lowest level only higher than 22.6% in 1975 and a decline of 2.2 percentage points from 2019. The COVID-19 swept the world in 2020 is the main reason for the decline in global steel exports and the export proportion.

In 2020, the global iron ore trade volume was 1.658 billion tons, a year-on-year increase of 0.4%. Among them, China's imports of iron ore (iron ore and its concentrate) increased by 9.5% year-on-year to 1.17 billion tons, a record high, accounting for 70.6% of global trade.

In 2020, the global export volume of scrap steel was 98.9 million tons, down 2.3% year-on-year. The import volume was 96.9 million tons, a year-on-year decrease of 6.4%. The 28 EU countries are the world's largest scrap exporter. In 2020, they exported a total of 48.9 million tons of scrap, down 1.4% year-on-year and accounting for 49.4% of the total global scrap export. From a single country perspective, the United States is the world’s largest scrap exporter. In 2020, it exported a total of 16.9 million tons of scrap steel, a year-on-year decrease of 4.5%, accounting for 17.1% of the world’s total steel scrap exports; followed by Japan, which exported 9.4 million tons of scrap steel, a year-on-year decrease. An increase of 22.1%, accounting for 9.5%.

Turkey is the world's largest scrap importer. In 2020, it imported a total of 22.4 million tons of scrap steel, an increase of 19.1% year-on-year, accounting for 23.1% of the world's total scrap imports.

In 2020, China's scrap steel import and export trade volume will be zero. With China's lifting of restrictions on the import of recycled steel raw materials from January 1, 2021, China's imports of recycled steel raw materials have gradually increased. According to the latest customs data, from January to April 2021, China's imports of recycled steel raw materials totaled 131,300 tons. The monthly imports from January to April were 4,100 tons, 5,500 tons, 45,600 tons, and 76,300 tons. Since March, China's imports of recycled steel raw materials have increased significantly.