India and the United States experienced declines of 14 per cent and 5 per cent respectively in their exports of iron and steel in 2018 but the other top ten exporters saw increases. The highest growth rates were recorded by Turkey (39 per cent) and the Russian Federation (20 per cent).

The top six exporters remained in the same order – with the European Union in first place (38 per cent share in world exports), followed by China (14 per cent share) and Japan (7 per cent share). Turkey rose three places to seventh position while India fell from seventh to ninth. Chinese Taipei dropped from ninth to tenth. The top ten exporters accounted collectively for 83 per cent of world exports in 2018 (down from 85 per cent in 2017).