Steelmaking capacity

Data release date: June 2020
Data last updated: July 2023

Governments participating in the OECD Steel Committee consider excess capacity as being one of the main challenges facing the global steel sector today. The OECD Steel Committee has deepened its discussions on capacity, and will take this work further in the next few years. The OECD Steelmaking Capacity Portal supports this work by providing access to a range of data and analyses on global capacity developments.

Summary of global capacity developments: The latest available data suggest that global steelmaking capacity (in nominal crude terms) increased to 2.362.5 million metric tonnes in 2019 and by 1.5% from the levels of 2018. Moreover, many investment projects continue to take place around the world and others are in the planning stages. Should these projects be realised, global steelmaking capacity could increase by approximately 2-3% between 2020 and 2022 in the absence of closures.

OECD papers on steelmaking capacity developments