Looking back in time, global steel production grew strongly in the 1960s and early 1970s when Japan was industrialising, but then was relatively flat for about a quarter of a century (Graph 8). Over the past decade, growth in global steel production has again been very strong, running well ahead of that in global industrial production.
This strength largely reflects the very strong growth in manufacturing and infrastructure investment in China, both of which have been quite intensive in their use of steel.