In the first five months of this year, world pig iron production amounted to 493.64 million mt, rising by 1.22 percent compared to the same period of 2013, according to the preliminary data covering 38 countries accounting for approximately 99 percent of total world blast furnace pig iron production, released by the World Steel Association (worldsteel).

Meanwhile, in May this year global pig iron production amounted to 100.8 million metric tons, increasing by 3.14 percent compared to April and up 0.57 percent on year-on-year basis.

In May, pig iron output in Asia amounted to 78.12 million mt, up 1.27 percent, with 61.52 million mt produced by China, up 0.63 percent, 7.21 million mt produced by Japan, down 0.1 percent, and 4.44 million mt produced by India, up 1.3 percent - with all comparisons on year-on-year basis. Meanwhile, in the same month EU countries produced 8.18 million mt of pig iron, while the CIS produced seven million mt, with an increase of 1.93 percent and a decrease of 0.27 percent year on year, respectively.