Iron and Steel Mills and Ferroalloy Global Market Report 2021: COVID-19 Impact and Recovery to 2030

Major companies in the iron and steel mills and ferroalloy market include Arcelor Mittal SA; POSCO; China BaoWu Steel Group Corporation Limited; Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp and JFE Engineering Corporation.

The global iron and steel mills and ferroalloy market is expected to grow from $822.24 billion in 2020 to $870.59 billion in 2021 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.9%. The growth is mainly due to the companies rearranging their operations and recovering from the COVID-19 impact, which had earlier led to restrictive containment measures involving social distancing, remote working, and the closure of commercial activities that resulted in operational challenges. The market is expected to reach $1143.6 billion in 2025 at a CAGR of 7%.

The iron and steel mills and ferroalloy market consists of sales of iron and steel mills and ferroalloys by entities (organizations, sole traders and partnerships) carrying out activities such as reducing iron ore, transforming pig iron into steel, and producing molten or solid pig iron, steel, steel and forming pipe and tube, electrometallurgical ferroalloys, and steel and manufacturing shapes such as bar, plate, rod, sheet, strip, and wire. The iron and steel mills and ferroalloy market is segmented into crude steel; pig iron and ferroalloys.

Asia Pacific was the largest region in the global iron and steel mills and ferroalloy market, accounting for 46% of the market in 2020. Western Europe was the second largest region accounting for 21% of the global iron and steel mills and ferroalloy market. Africa was the smallest region in the global iron and steel mills and ferroalloy market.

Companies in the iron and steel industry are increasingly using recycled steel as a raw material to manufacture new steel products for enhancing scrap management and energy savings. Steel recycling involves collection of metal scrap, melting in furnaces at high temperatures to produce blocks, ingots and sheets, and supplying them to manufacturers for production. The metallurgical properties of steel allow it to be economically favorable and recyclable. Manufacture of metal products from recycled steel is an eco-friendly process as it consumes less energy, minimizes need for mining, reduces Co2 emissions and decreases metal wastage. In 2017, according to Bureau of International Recycling (BIR), 35.5% of recycled steel (or steel scrap) is used in crude steel production globally, where 17.8% was used in China, 55.5% in Europe, 72.1% in the USA, 34.2% in Japan, 43% in the Republic of Korea, 80.8% in Turkey and 39.9% in Russia. ArcelorMittal, is optimizing its scrap recycling operations since 2015 with an average recycling rate of 85% of the steel produced.

The outbreak of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has acted as a massive restraint on the iron and steel mills and ferroalloy manufacturing market in 2020 as supply chains were disrupted due to trade restrictions and consumption declined due to lockdowns imposed by governments globally. COVID 19 is an infectious disease with flu-like symptoms including fever, cough, and difficulty in breathing. The virus was first identified in 2019 in Wuhan, Hubei province of the People’s Republic of China and spread globally including Western Europe, North America and Asia. Manufacturers depend heavily on supply of raw materials from domestic and international suppliers. As many governments restricted the movement of goods across countries and locally, manufacturers had to halt production due to lack of raw materials. The outbreak is expected to continue to have a negative impact on businesses throughout 2020 and into 2021. However, it is expected that the iron and steel mills and ferroalloy manufacturing market will recover from the shock across the forecast period as it is a 'black swan' event and not related to ongoing or fundamental weaknesses in the market or the global economy.

Metal consumption by the aerospace sector is expected to increase during the forecast period, thus driving the iron and steel mills and ferroalloy manufacturing market. This is mainly due to rise in air travel is leading to increased demand for commercial airplanes. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), there were around 3.8 billion air travelers in 2016, and this number is expected to rise up to 7.2 billion by 203. Similarly, according to Boeing, approximately 42,730 new jets, valued at $6.3 trillion, will be required over the next 20 years, to meet rising passenger traffic and upcoming airplane retirements. This will require significant metal consumption, especially aluminum, this will drive the iron and steel mills and ferroalloy manufacturing market in the forecast period.