What is the major changes of 2023 global steel industry? From the OECD report found 2023 global steel performances and regional trends.
According to a report released by the OECD, global crude steel capacity reached 2,498.6 million tonnes by the end of 2023, an increase of 57.1 million tonnes, or 2.3%, compared to 2022. This is also the first time in 10 years that global crude steel capacity has increased by more than 50 million tonnes annually.
In recent years, despite growth in both crude steel capacity and production, production growth has slowed relative to capacity. The gap between global steelmaking capacity and crude steel production is estimated to widen from 556.1 million tonnes in 2022 to 610.8 million tonnes in 2023, and the global steel capacity utilisation rate declines for the second consecutive year in 2023, by 1.7 percentage points to 75.6% (the production figures are annualised based on production in the first half of 2023), reflecting a weak global steel demand and production The trend is reflective of weak global steel demand and production.
Globally, 46 million tonnes of new capacity is expected to come on stream in 2024-2026, with 78.2 million tonnes of new capacity in the planning stage. In 2024-2026, Asia has 27.7 million tonnes of ongoing capacity additions and 43.7 million tonnes of planned capacity, totalling 71.4 million tonnes of new capacity. ASEAN and India account for 88.7 per cent of Asia's capacity additions.In 2024-2026, ASEAN's ongoing capacity additions are 20.5 million tonnes and planned capacity additions are 6.5 million tonnes, totalling 27 million tonnes.
Elsewhere, ongoing steelmaking capacity is expected to be 2.8 million tonnes in the CIS, 2.5 million tonnes in the EU, 1.0 million tonnes in Latin America, 7.2 million tonnes in the Middle East, 3.3 million tonnes in North America, and 1.5 million tonnes in Oceania in 2024-2026.
Of the ongoing and planned capacity additions globally, 45.2 per cent of the capacity is from converter projects, 50.5 per cent from EAF projects and 4.3 per cent from other technology routes. In Asia, converter capacity accounts for more than 75.9 per cent of capacity additions, with most converter capacity projects in India or the ASEAN region. In contrast, projects in other regions mainly use the electric arc furnace production route, and no new converter projects are expected to start in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, North America and Oceania in 2024-2026.
