Global Pig Iron Market Research Report 2023-Competitive Analysis, Status and Outlook by Type, Downstream Industry, and Geography, Forecast to 2029

Global Pig Iron Market Research Report 2023-Competitive Analysis, Status and Outlook by Type, Downstream Industry, and Geography, Forecast to 2029

Pig iron is crude iron produced directly from a blast furnace and is a product of iron ore smelted in a blast furnace. It is an intermediate product of the steel industry. Pig iron is an iron-carbon alloy with high carbon content and contains other scum components such as silicon, manganese, and sulfur. Therefore, although pig iron is hard, pig iron is brittle, has almost no plasticity, cannot be forged, and cannot be used directly as a material.

Market Overview:

The latest research study on the global Pig Iron market finds that the global Pig Iron market reached a value of USD 660270.53 million in 2022. It’s expected that the market will achieve USD 719075.8 million by 2028, exhibiting a CAGR of 1.43% during the forecast period.

More than one million lives have been lost to COVID-19 since the start of 2020 and the toll continues to rise. Many more have suffered a serious illness. Close to 90 million people are expected to fall into extreme deprivation this year. Compared with the IMF report released in June, the global economic contraction in 2020 will not be as severe as previously predicted. This revision reflects a better-than-expected economic recovery in the second quarter. Global growth is projected at 5.2 percent in 2021, a little lower than in the June 2020 WEO Update, reflecting the more moderate downturn projected for 2020 and consistent with expectations of persistent social distancing. This is the worst global recession in decades, despite the huge efforts of governments with the support of fiscal and monetary policies to deal with the economic downturn. But from a long-term perspective, it is expected that the severe recession caused by the pandemic will cause a prolonged economic depression by reducing investment. Should COVID-19 outbreaks persist, should restrictions on movement be extended or reintroduced, or should disruptions to economic activity be prolonged, the recession could be deeper. Businesses might find it hard to service debt, heightened risk aversion could lead to climbing borrowing costs, and bankruptcies and defaults could result in financial crises in many countries. Under such unfavorable circumstances, there will still be a possibility of a global decline in 2021. The global economic downturn caused by COVID-19 is not good for the development of any industry.

COVID-19 has also had a serious impact on the pig iron market. During the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, many steel-making and iron-making plants were shut down, especially some small and medium-sized enterprises and even went bankrupt. For the pig iron industry, this is particularly disadvantageous. Upstream production companies such as iron ore were adversely affected, mining activities could not be carried out normally, iron ore supply was reduced or even stopped, resulting in insufficient supply of raw materials. Downstream markets, including electric arc steelmaking companies and casting production companies, have also been affected by COVID-19, and their output has decreased. In addition, due to the impact of COVID-19, the price of iron ore continues to rise, which has led to an increase in the cost of raw materials for pig iron. COVID-19 has adversely affected the pig iron market.

Demand in the terminal application market has grown.

Affected by terminal markets such as construction, automobiles, and electronics, the global demand for steel continues to grow, which promotes the development of the pig iron market. The demand for high-performance castings in the automotive, aerospace, and construction machinery industries is also one of the factors that promote the development of the pig iron industry.

Political Factors

The evolution of the global situation and the structure of power relations accelerated under the impact of the epidemic. In this evolution, the changes in relations between major powers are most conspicuous. The changes in Sino-U.S. relations are the most prominent, prompting the in-depth development of a century of change and affecting a series of changes in international relations. The competition and cooperation between traditional powers and emerging countries need to develop simultaneously. The mainstream of world peace and development has not changed. This is the common aspiration of the people of all countries in the world. The mixture of unilateralism, protectionism, power politics and anti-globalization forces, coupled with the adjustment anxiety syndrome of Western systems, policies, and conceit, has increased the impact on the stability and cooperation of the international society. Global transnational public domain issues such as climate environment, public health, strategic and regional security and governance dilemmas have become more prominent, affecting the survival and development of human society; technological competition has become more intense. This has further strengthened the momentum of the accumulation of quantitative changes in the world's multiploidization, but the basic structure has not been completely qualitatively changed: the international security strategy has changed slowly, basically maintaining the US dominance under the nuclear strategic balance, and the influence of the Sino-Russian-US triangle has increased; the political structure Changes are faster, and emerging forces are rising; the economic structure is changing the fastest, and China, the United States and Europe are making great progress. This situation still brings hope to world peace, development and cooperation, and has also caused unprecedented shocks, increasing uncertainties and unstable factors.

Region Overview:

In global comparison, a significant portion of the revenue was generated in Asia Pacific (83.22% in 2022).

Company Overview:

Baowu is one of the major players operating in the Pig Iron market, holding a share of 8.31% in 2023.

Baowu

BaoWu is a state-owned steel company formed by Baosteel Group in 2016 by absorbing its smaller state-owned counterpart, Wuhan Iron and Steel Company. The company has created a pattern of coordinated development of new materials industry, smart service industry, resources and environment industry, industrial park industry, industrial finance industry and other related industries based on the green, high-quality and smart steel manufacturing industry. Baowu acquired Maanshan Iron & Steel in 2019.

NSSMC

Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation (Nssmc) is a Japanese steel producer, founded in 2012 from the merger of Nippon Steel Corporation and Sumitomo Metal Industries Limited. It is a steel manufacturer, mainly including steel business, engineering business, Nittetsu Chemicals & Materials Co., Ltd. and NS Solutions Corporation. The company is dedicated to manufacturing products for the automotive, energy, and infrastructure industries worldwide.

Segmentation Overview:

Among different product types, Basic Pig Iron segment is anticipated to contribute the largest market share in 2028.
Basic Pig Iron
Basic Pig Iron is the primary alloy of iron. Basic pig iron is smelted in a blast furnace and transferred in liquid or solid form for conversion—mainly in open-hearth furnaces or oxygen converters—into steel. Compared with other types of metals that are smelted in blast furnaces, for example, foundry pig irons, basic pig iron has low silicon and manganese content—not more than 1.75 percent of each. The range of proportions of silicon, manganese, and sulfur is narrower in basic pig iron for conversion in an oxygen converter than in other types of basic pig iron. Basic Pig Iron is mainly used for electric arc steelmaking.

Foundry Pig Iron

Foundry Pig Iron is pig iron produced in blast furnaces, with most of its carbon in the form of free graphite, and contains a high content of silicon. The foundry pig iron fracture is gray, usually known as gray iron. Because graphite is soft, with lubrication, which has good cutting, wearing, and casting performance. Foundry Pig Iron is mainly used to make gray iron castings.

Nodular Pig Iron

The carbon in Nodular Pig Iron exists in the form of spherical graphite. The mechanical properties of Nodular Pig Iron are far better than those of Foundry Pig Iron and are close to steel. It has excellent casting, cutting, and wear resistance, and has a certain degree of flexibility. Nodular Pig Iron is mainly used to manufacture ductile iron castings.

Application Overview:

The market's largest segment by application is the segment Electric Arc Steelmaking, with a market share of 95.6% in 2022.

Electric Arc Steelmaking

Electric arc steelmaking is a steelmaking method that uses the thermal effect of the electric arc to heat the charge for smelting. Electric arc furnace steelmaking is the main method for producing medium and high alloy steels and high-quality steels.

Grey Iron Castings

Gray cast iron castings are usually made by smelting Foundry Pig Iron, which is an alloy of iron and carbon. Gray iron castings have the ability to withstand larger compressive forces, so they have higher compressive strength, which is about three times the tensile strength. Gray cast iron castings have high damping capacity and excellent processing capabilities, which makes them very suitable for all types of machine bases, cylinder blocks and brake components. Another important feature of gray cast iron castings is that they have strong oxidation resistance, which can prevent rust.

Ductile Iron Castings

Ductile iron castings are solid metal objects that result from molten ductile iron being poured into voids in a mold. The ductile iron subsequently cools and solidifies in the shape of the void it occupies. Ductile Iron contains spheroidal (nodular) shaped graphite, is higher strength than Gray Iron, and weighs less than steel for the same section size.

Key Companies in the global Pig Iron market covered in Chapter 3:

NSSMC
SAIL
China Hanking
Benxi Steel
NINL
NLMK Group
Tata Steel
Shougang
HBIS
Metinvest
ANSTEEL GROUP
Vedanta
Baowu
Mesco Steel
Metalloinvest 

In Chapter 4 and Chapter 14.2, on the basis of types, the Pig Iron market from 2018 to 2029 is primarily split into:

Basic Pig Iron
Foundry Pig Iron
Nodular Pig Iron

In Chapter 5 and Chapter 14.3, on the basis of Downstream Industry, the Pig Iron market from 2018 to 2029 covers:

Electric Arc Steelmaking
Grey Iron Castings
Ductile Iron Castings

Geographically, the detailed analysis of consumption, revenue, market share and growth rate, historic and forecast (2018-2029) of the following regions are covered in Chapter 8 to Chapter 14:

North America (United States, Canada)
Europe (Germany, UK, France, Italy, Spain, Russia, Netherlands, Turkey, Switzerland, Sweden)
Asia Pacific (China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, India, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia)
Latin America (Brazil, Mexico, Argentina)
Middle East & Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, South Africa)