2. Steel production

Global crude steel production reached 1.665 billion tonnes in 2014, after crossing the billion-tonne threshold in 2004. Production in 2015 contracted very slightly by 2.8% due to China's economic landing, but also to the global economic slump.

After a period of virtual stagnation in the 1980s and 1990s, global production picked up again in the mid-1990s, growing exponentially as a result of the economic take-off of the emerging BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). However, it is China that has almost single-handedly driven this development, and its production in 2014 reached 822.7 Mt, i.e. 51.2% of world production (803.8 Mt in 2015). The 2008 crisis led to an 8.8% drop in production in 2009 compared to the 2007 peak, but global production growth resumed the following year. Nonetheless, growth has slowed from 6.2% a year between 2000...