Steel production begins in the ground, long before iron reaches the furnace. This dashboard tracks the production and consumption of metallurgical coal and iron ore, as well as the production of pig iron and direct reduced iron (DRI), showing how these key materials move from mines to steel products. It provides global and country-level insights into where these resources are mined and used. The data also highlight how strongly today’s steel system remains tied to coal-based production.
Mapping these material flows can provide new insight into steel decarbonization, including which countries have the greatest opportunities and which have the greatest challenges in shifting production towards lower-emissions production pathways. For further information about coal-based steelmaking and decarbonization technologies, please see GEM’s Blast Furnace Tool and Electric Arc Furnace Tool. Additionally, the underlying data for this work can be accessed by downloading the Global Iron and Steel Tracker.
