Iron is the fourth most abundant element by weight that makes up the crust of the earth. Pure iron is very reactive to chemicals and corrodes rapidly in moist warm air. Pig Iron is a form of iron that is impure, it contains about three percent carbon with varying amounts of phosphous, manganese, sulphur and silicon. Production in 2002 was 608,400,000 tonnes. Pig iron is the product that comes directly from the furnace and needs further refining to produce wrought iron or other iron alloys.
FastMarkets provides the iron industry with live and delayed iron prices, iron news, iron research and iron analysis. Request a free trial today and find out how FastMarkets Professional can help your business.
Sample Iron News from FastMarkets Professional
BASE AND PRECIOUS METALS - European Morning View - Metals little changed as they consolidate yesterday's weakness by WAdams - 16-05-2013London 16/05/2013 - Bullion led the way on the downside yesterday with silver falling 3.8 perc...
Base metals consolidate slightly lower, relief rally peters out ahead of Asian holiday by KRetourne - 26-04-2013
London 26/04/2013 - Base metals were down across the board in Friday’s premarket, slipping int...
Sims H1 loss narrows, CEO Dienst to retire in June by KRetourne - 22-02-2013
Sims Metal Management reported a narrower loss for its fiscal first half on Friday but said that its...
METALS PEOPLE - Andrew Roberts named Arrium CEO by KRetourne - 18-02-2013
Andrew Roberts will succeed Geoff Plummer as managing director and chief executive officer of Austra...
BASE & PRECIOUS METALS - European Morning View - Metals firmer as sentiment in Asia picks up by WAdams - 14-01-2013
London 14/01/2013 - The metals struggled on Friday with all metal with the exception of tin a...
Uses of Iron
Although iron has many specific uses and is refined into wrought iron and cast iron for pipes, fenses, fittings, chains, engine blocks and other items, its main use is in the production of steel. Steel has several desirable properties, making it the main structural metal in engineering and building projects and accounts for 90% of all metal used each year. Several types of steel exist containing varying amounts of iron alloyed either with other metals (chromium, manganese, nickel, molybdenum) or carbon to increase strength and durability.
Iron Supply
Iron ore is shipped around the world to the steel manufacturers as most iron goes directly into steel production, iron production and steel production generally go hand in hand. The seven largest producing countries account for about three-quarters of total world production. Australia and Brazil together dominate the world’s iron ore exports, each having about one-third of total exports. Iron production in the top 41 countries in 2003 was some 539,731,000 tonnes.
Iron Demand
Almost all (98%) of iron ore is used to make iron and steel and most pig iron is transported to steelmakers while it is still in liquid form and is used directly in steel making. Some iron is turned into wrought iron and cast iron, the metal used by blacksmiths, but many products that were traditionally made from iron are now made with steel.
