World Steel Recycling in Figures: January-December 2025 update

Global crude steel production totalled 1850.1 million tonnes in 2025, representing a decline of 1.9% compared to 2024, according to worldsteel. While output increased in North America (+0.8% to 107.4 million tonnes), Africa (+3.1% to 29.7 million tonnes), the Middle East (+4.6% to 57.4 million tonnes) and Oceania (+11.5% to 5.8 million tonnes), production fell in the EU-27 (-2.8% to 126.1 million tonnes), Other Europe (-1.0% to 44.5 million tonnes), South America (-1.3% to 41.4 million tonnes) and Asia (-2.4% to 1354.6 million tonnes). China retained its position as the world’s largest crude steel producer despite a 4.4% decline to 960.8 million tonnes.

As explained previously, the BIR Ferrous Division has adopted the term “recycled steel” in place of “steel scrap” to more effectively communicate the value and significance of this material to a broader audience. Each year, approximately 630 million tonnes of recycled steel are used in global steelmaking, preventing nearly 950 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions while saving energy and conserving natural resources. The term also underscores the material's central role in the transition to green steel production.

Direct reduced iron (DRI) production is also an increasingly important indicator for the green steel transition. According to worldsteel, global DRI output grew 4.9% to 153.0 million tonnes in 2025, with the leading producer being India (+7.5% to 58.9 million tonnes) followed by Iran (+8.5% to 37.2 million tonnes).

Recycled steel usage 4.5% higher

Recycled steel usage in our key countries and regions was 4.5% higher last year at 480.268 million tonnes; this compares with a decrease in their overall crude steel production of 2.2% to 1514.7 million tonnes. Recycled steel usage headed higher last year in China, the USA, India and Turkey whereas decreases were registered in the EU-27, Japan and South Korea.

The figure for recycled steel consumption in our key countries and regions represents around 75% of global steel usage for steelmaking last year.

In these key countries and regions, China’s crude steel production decreased as mentioned above by 4.4% to 960.8 million tonnes in 2025. Meanwhile, the country’s usage of recycled steel increased by 8.3% year on year, reaching 227.0 million tonnes.

Increases in recycled steel usage were also registered in 2025 by the USA (+3.6% to 57.0 million tonnes), with its crude steel production rising 3.1% to 81.9 million tonnes. In India, recycled steel usage climbed 17.9% to 39.6 million tonnes while the country’s crude steel production jumped 10.4% to 164.9 million tonnes. And in Turkey, the recycled steel usage gain of 5.8% to 33.1 million tonnes eclipsed a crude steel production increase of 3.3% to 38.1 million tonnes.

Conversely, lower recycled steel usage was recorded in 2025 by the EU-27 (-2.9% to 74.4 million tonnes), broadly mirroring the percentage decline in crude steel production (-2.8% to 126.1 million tonnes). It was a similar story for Japan where recycled steel usage fell by 4.2% to 29.4 million tonnes while crude steel production dropped 3.9% to 80.7 million tonnes. Meanwhile in South Korea, the use of recycled steel tumbled 13% to 19.7 million tonnes whereas the production of crude steel dipped only 2.2% to 62.2 million tonnes.

Drop in Turkey’s recycled steel imports

Turkey remained the world's foremost importer of recycled steel in 2025 despite a 6.6% decline in the country’s overseas purchases to 18.768 million tonnes. Its principal suppliers were the USA (-20.4% to 3.608 million tonnes), the Netherlands (-0.1% to 2.764 million tonnes) and the UK (-5.8% to 2.089 million tonnes).

India ranked second among global recycled steel importers (-5.0% to 8.040 million tonnes), sourcing notably from the USA (-11.4% to 1.320 million tonnes) and the UK (-11.0% to 0.890 million tonnes).

Import volumes increased last year in the EU-27 (+28.8% to 4.991 million tonnes), the USA (+5.1% to 4.662 million tonnes) and Pakistan (+39.8% to 3.022 million tonnes), while declines were recorded in Taiwan (-38.1% to 1.853 million tonnes) and South Korea (-17.4% to 1.782 million tonnes).

EU-27 remains top exporter

The EU-27 retained its status as the world’s leading recycled steel exporter in 2025, despite a modest 2.0% decline to 16.684 million tonnes. Turkey (-0.9% to 10.824 million tonnes) and Egypt (+13.4% to 1.860 million tonnes) were the primary destinations.

The USA remained the second-largest exporter globally in 2025 despite an 18.4% drop to 11.767 million tonnes. Key customers included Turkey (-14.3% to 3.796 million tonnes), Bangladesh (-28.1% to 1.325 million tonnes), Mexico (-45.5% to 1.167 million tonnes) and India (-18.0% to 1.064 million tonnes).

There were increases last year in recycled steel export volumes from the UK (+4.4% to 6.532 million tonnes), Mexico (+34.1% to 1.599 million tonnes), Japan (+17.96% to 7.711 million tonnes) and Singapore (+33.3% to 1.262 million tonnes), while declines were recorded from Canada (-5.4% to 4.280 million tonnes), Australia (-5.1% to 2.334 million tonnes) and Hong Kong (-8.7% to 1.100 million tonnes).

On a net export basis, the EU-27 and the USA remained the dominant players. Export price trends in both regions followed a broadly parallel course throughout the year.