Steel In any sector of the economy you care to mention, steel is everywhere. It is a key ingredient in tools and vehicles, and finds uses in the worlds of gastronomy, medicine and logistics alike. There are more than 2,500 types of steel to choose from, de- pending on the application: extra- hard steel for knife blades, flexible steel for writing nibs, tear- resistant steel for building with concrete, super-tough steel for machine construction. And its popularity is on the up, with the International Energy Agency expecting demand to increase by around a third by 2050 compared to today’s levels. China topped the global league table of crude steel producers in 2022 with around a billion tons, followed – a long way back – by India (125.3 million tons) and Japan (89.2 million tons). Germany produces the largest quantities of crude steel in Europe, with 36.8 million tons.
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