Japan produced 80.7 million tonnes of crude steel in 2025, keeping the country among the world’s largest steelmaking economies even as output continued to decline.
The World Steel Association’s latest annual data put Japanese production at 80.671 million tonnes for the calendar year, which is 80.7 million tonnes when rounded to one decimal place. That was down from 84.0 million tonnes in 2024, a decline of about 4%. Worldsteel’s 2026 country rankings place Japan fourth globally for 2025.
The decline extended a multiyear contraction in Japanese steel production and allowed the United States to move ahead of Japan in the global ranking.
Japan Fell To Fourth Place
China remained by far the world’s largest crude steel producer in 2025, producing 960.8 million tonnes, followed by India at roughly 165 million tonnes. The United States produced about 81.9 million tonnes, narrowly exceeding Japan’s 80.7 million tonnes.
Japan had ranked third in 2024, when its 84.0 million tonnes of production remained above the United States at 79.5 million tonnes. The reversal reflected movements in both countries. Japanese production declined while U.S. output increased.
An industry review published by the Iron and Steel Institute of Japan reported that Japanese crude steel production fell for a fourth consecutive year in 2025. Output had reached 96.33 million tonnes in 2021 before declining in each subsequent calendar year.
What The 80.7 Million Tonnes Measures
The headline figure measures crude steel production, not finished steel sales, shipments or revenue.
Worldsteel defines crude steel as steel in its first solid or usable form, including ingots and semi-finished products such as billets, blooms and slabs, as well as liquid steel produced for castings. It therefore measures steelmaking output at an earlier stage of production than finished products such as automotive sheet, structural sections or steel pipe.
Worldsteel compiles crude steel statistics from reporting institutions across steel-producing countries and updates its data as revised figures become available. The association notes that national and company production figures can be adjusted after their initial publication, which is why the latest annual database is the appropriate reference for the final 2025 figure.
Japan’s own industry data are maintained by the Japan Iron and Steel Federation, which publishes monthly, calendar-year and fiscal-year production statistics. Its 2025 calendar-year figures have subsequently been revised as part of the federation’s regular statistical process.
Steel Demand Also Weakened
Japan’s lower crude steel production occurred alongside softer domestic steel use.
Worldsteel estimates Japan’s apparent steel use at 48.0 million tonnes of finished steel products in 2025, down from 49.7 million tonnes in 2024 and 51.6 million tonnes in 2023. Apparent steel use is a consumption indicator for finished steel products and should not be directly compared with crude steel production because the two statistics cover different stages of the steel supply chain.
Exports also declined. The Japan Iron and Steel Federation reported that Japan exported 30.39 million tonnes of steel on an all-steel basis in calendar 2025, down 4.2% from the previous year. Exports to South Korea fell 19.7%, shipments to China declined 12.6% and exports to the United States decreased 9.3%.
These export figures use the federation’s trade classifications and are not equivalent to crude steel production, so they should not be subtracted directly from the 80.7 million-tonne production total.
Most Steel Still Came From Converter Furnaces
Japan continued to rely heavily on conventional integrated steelmaking during 2025.
According to the Iron and Steel Institute of Japan, 59.83 million tonnes of the country’s crude steel came from converter production, down 3.4% from 2024. Electric arc furnaces produced 20.85 million tonnes, down 5.5%. Electric arc furnaces therefore accounted for about 25.8% of Japanese crude steel production.
Japan’s steelmakers are also preparing changes to their production systems. The same industry review noted planned electric arc furnace investments by major producers including Nippon Steel and JFE Steel, alongside the consolidation or shutdown of some blast furnace capacity.
Production Was Nearly Flat In Early 2026
The latest data suggest that the sharp annual decline seen in 2025 had not continued at the same pace in the first part of 2026.
Worldsteel reported that Japan produced 47.3 million tonnes from January through July 2026, just 0.3% below the same period of 2025. July production reached 6.9 million tonnes, up 0.4% from a year earlier.
Japan therefore remains one of the world’s largest steel-producing countries despite several years of declining output. Its 80.7 million tonnes of crude steel in 2025 left it only narrowly behind the United States and well ahead of the next-largest producers, reinforcing the country’s continuing importance to the global steel industry.