Iron Production by Country

Iron production by country measures how much iron each country produces, expressed in tonnes. The figures follow the definitions used in the underlying sources. The statistics are based on Our World in Data, which compiles them from the USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries, the USGS Historical Statistics for Mineral and Material Commodities, and the BGS World Mineral Statistics. The table below lists 16 countries that record iron production in the period. 2024 data are available for all 16 countries, which produced a combined 1,218,000,000 tonnes in 2024.

Countries With the Largest Iron Production in 2024

China produced the most iron in 2024 with 840,000,000 tonnes. India ranked second with 93,000,000, followed by Japan (62,000,000), Russia (54,000,000), and South Korea (44,000,000). Brazil (27,000,000), Germany (23,000,000), and the United States (22,000,000) round out the top eight.

Iron Production by Country

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#	Country	Latest Data (tonnes)	Year
1	China CN	840,000,000	2024
2	India IN	93,000,000	2024
3	Japan JP	62,000,000	2024
4	Russia RU	54,000,000	2024
5	South Korea KR	44,000,000	2024
6	Brazil BR	27,000,000	2024
7	Germany DE	23,000,000	2024
8	United States US	22,000,000	2024
9	Vietnam VN	13,000,000	2024
10	Taiwan TW	12,000,000	2024
11	Türkiye TR	8,000,000	2024
12	Ukraine UA	6,000,000	2024
13	Canada CA	6,000,000	2024
14	Iran IR	4,000,000	2024
15	Italy IT	3,000,000	2024
16	Mexico MX	1,000,000	2024

Among the 16 countries with available 2024 data, China accounted for about 69 percent of their combined production, and China and India together accounted for about 77 percent. Only China produced more than 400 million tonnes in 2024.

Iron Production Around the World

In Asia, China (840,000,000 tonnes) is the dominant producer, ahead of India (93,000,000), Japan (62,000,000), South Korea (44,000,000), Vietnam (13,000,000), Taiwan (12,000,000), and Türkiye (8,000,000).

In the Americas, Brazil (27,000,000 tonnes) leads, ahead of the United States (22,000,000), Canada (6,000,000), and Mexico (1,000,000).

In Europe, Russia (54,000,000 tonnes) is the largest producer, followed by Germany (23,000,000), Ukraine (6,000,000), and Italy (3,000,000). In the Middle East, Iran produced 4,000,000 tonnes in 2024.

Largest Changes in Iron Production, 2020–2024

India recorded the largest increase between 2020 and 2024, rising from 68,000,000 to 93,000,000 tonnes (up 25,000,000). The United States added 4,000,000, from 18,000,000 to 22,000,000, and Vietnam added 3,000,000, from 10,000,000 to 13,000,000. Russia rose from 52,000,000 to 54,000,000 (up 2,000,000), and Brazil from 25,000,000 to 27,000,000 (up 2,000,000).

China recorded the largest decline, falling from 888,000,000 tonnes in 2020 to 840,000,000 in 2024 (down 48,000,000). Ukraine fell from 20,000,000 to 6,000,000 (down 14,000,000), followed by Türkiye, from 10,000,000 to 8,000,000 (down 2,000,000).

Iron Production by Country

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#	Country	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
1	China	888,000,000	869,000,000	866,000,000	871,000,000	840,000,000
2	India	68,000,000	78,000,000	80,000,000	86,000,000	93,000,000
3	Japan	62,000,000	70,000,000	64,000,000	63,000,000	62,000,000
4	Russia	52,000,000	54,000,000	52,000,000	55,000,000	54,000,000
5	South Korea	45,000,000	46,000,000	42,000,000	45,000,000	44,000,000
6	Brazil	25,000,000	28,000,000	27,000,000	26,000,000	27,000,000
7	Germany	22,000,000	26,000,000	24,000,000	24,000,000	23,000,000
8	Ukraine	20,000,000	21,000,000	6,000,000	6,000,000	6,000,000
9	United States	18,000,000	22,000,000	20,000,000	23,000,000	22,000,000
10	Taiwan	13,000,000	15,000,000	13,000,000	12,000,000	12,000,000
11	Vietnam	10,000,000	15,000,000	12,000,000	13,000,000	13,000,000
12	Türkiye	10,000,000	10,000,000	9,000,000	9,000,000	8,000,000
13	Canada	-	-	6,000,000	6,000,000	6,000,000
14	Iran	3,000,000	3,000,000	3,000,000	4,000,000	4,000,000
15	Italy	3,000,000	4,000,000	3,000,000	3,000,000	3,000,000
16	Mexico	2,000,000	3,000,000	2,000,000	1,000,000	1,000,000

Methodology

The statistics are based on Our World in Data, which compiles national iron production figures from the USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries, the USGS Historical Statistics for Mineral and Material Commodities, and the BGS World Mineral Statistics, with major processing by Our World in Data; USGS data is prioritized, with BGS data used to supplement it. Values refer to iron production from smelting, expressed in tonnes, in line with the definitions used in the underlying sources, and 2024 figures are preliminary estimates from the USGS. The figures largely reflect pig iron output, including sponge iron and direct reduced iron where separately identified in the source. The main comparison uses 2024 data, which is available for all 16 countries. For Canada, the source data begin in 2022, so figures for earlier years are not shown. Countries with no iron production in any year of the period are excluded from the table. In the table, a zero reflects no production, while an empty cell means that no value was reported. According to Our World in Data, the sum of all countries may exceed the World total in certain years, by up to 10 percent, due to discrepancies between the underlying data sources.