In this article we are going to list the 15 biggest steel companies in the world. Click to skip ahead and jump to the 5 biggest steel companies in the world. Without steel, much of our infrastructure currently would not exist. It is by far the most important engineering and construction material, and if you have any doubts as to its importance, you can ask the 19 largest construction companies in the world. While the steel industry itself has enabled millions of jobs on a global scale, it is actually its indirect contribution to the global economy which is even more important, since it is a raw material in many industries around the world.
Steel is an alloy of carbon and iron, where less than 2% of the total makeup is of carbon, 1% is manganese and has trace amounts of oxygen, silicon, sulphur and phosphorous. Wherever you look, you will find some sort of application of steel; from construction to cars to electronic products to refrigerators, washing machines, surgical instruments and even cargo ships, which is why it is essential to the 15 biggest shipping companies in the world too. Of course, this list is by no means exhaustive and there are tons more applications pertaining to steel in the world. It is said that for every $1 that the steel industry generates, $2.5 are generated indirectly which is why it has a significant impact on the global economy.
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Even though steel is required by more or less every single country in their construction sectors as well as other sectors, the production isn’t quite as evenly spread as you might have thought. In fact, just 15 countries are responsible for more than 89% of the total steel production, with China topping the list with absolute dominance. China produced approximately 1,000 million metric tons while second placed Japan was only able to manage 100 million metric tons, showing the strength of China in this sector.
Technology has impacted most industries and the steel industry is no exception. Recently, the biggest iron ore producer in Europe, LKAB< has announced that it will invest $46 billion over the next two decades, to create an emissions free iron process which could is major news for the steel industry, and will increase pressure on other companies to follow these steps in a world which is increasingly, and rightfully so, environmentally conscious. After all, the steel industry is responsible for approximately 7% of all greenhouse gas emissions, which are among the biggest contributors to climate change, but response in the industry has been slow as convenient replacements have continued eluding the industry. In the last few years however, solutions have been forthcoming and it looks like the steel industry is poised for a massive change in the coming years.
The Covid-19 pandemic which is still currently raging across the world even after a year, has tanked the global economy and it will take years to recover from the effect, and that’s when we don’t even know when this pandemic will subside. As other industries such as construction, shipping and manufacturing had to stop production due to lockdowns, the demand for steel fell as well while inventories increased, especially in China, where the virus originated and which is also the biggest exporter of steel globally as well.
The biggest steel companies in the world are ranked based on their production of steel in 2019, since some of these companies engage in production of other products as well. There are only a few companies which are listed in the United States with companies such as Commercial Metals Company (NYSE:CMC) and Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) However, we have also mentioned other information where relevant for these companies including their market cap, revenues, assets and profits. These companies are crucial to the well being of our economy, and let’s take a more detailed look at these companies, starting with number 15:
15. Hyundai Steel
Total market cap of the company (in billions of dollars): 2.3
Total revenue of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 17
Total assets of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 27.9
Total profits of the company in 2019 (in millions of dollars): -179.4
Total steel production of the company in 2019 (in million of tonnes): 21.6
Hyundai Steel is headquartered in Seoul and Incheon, and is also a member of the Hyundai Motor Group, which is among the top 20 automobile companies in the world.
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