# Steel: Stocks

The real reserve is steel already in buildings and cars

Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/steel/stocks/

What this tab covers How much is left and how much is held. For minerals and energy: reserves, current output, years of supply and recycling for the top five countries. For farm commodities: production, ending stocks and stocks-to-use for the top five producers (USDA, October 2026). It also covers inventories and stockpiles.

#### Top five countries: reserves, output and years of supply

| Country | Reserves not applicable (steel is made, not mined; see Iron ore) | Current output Mt raw steel (2025e) | Years of supply | Recycling |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| **China** | – | 980 | – | n/a |
| **India** | – | 160 | – | n/a |
| **United States** | – | 82 | – | 85 |
| **Japan** | – | 81 | – | n/a |
| **Russia** | – | 65 | – | n/a |

 USGS MCS 2026, Iron and Steel (world raw steel production table). Years of supply = reserves ÷ current output; reserves grow as prices and technology change, so this is not a countdown.

#### Recycling

The US value is the midpoint of the 80-90% scrap recycling rate of the past decade (USGS 2026); end-use rates are 97% structural steel, near 100% cars, 78% appliances, 62% containers. The EU end-of-life recycling input rate for iron is 31% (EU CRM 2023). Steel in use is the real stock: estimates for 2005 put it at about 2.7 t per person worldwide, 0.4 t in India, 2.2 t in China and 10.5 t in the US (WSA via Smil).

Steel has no reserves of its own; its raw materials do (see Iron ore). The stock that matters is steel in use: buildings, bridges, vehicles and machines that will one day become scrap. The US scrap recycling rate has averaged 80-90% over the past decade, with cars near 100% and structural steel at 97%. More than two-thirds of US steel is now made from scrap (Conway). Conway expects recycling to supply more steel than ore in the second half of this century. US service centres held 6.7 million tonnes of mill products at end-2025.

The US steel scrap recycling rate has averaged 80-90% over the past decade, with automobiles recycled at nearly 100% each year.

## Other sections

- [Summary](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/steel/index.md)
- [Overview](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/steel/overview/index.md)
- [Correlation](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/steel/correlation/index.md)
- [Extraction](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/steel/extraction/index.md)
- [Production](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/steel/production/index.md)
- [Cycles](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/steel/cycles/index.md)
- [Trading](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/steel/trading/index.md)
- [Movement](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/steel/movement/index.md)
- [Criticality](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/steel/criticality/index.md)
- [Characteristics](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/steel/characteristics/index.md)
- [Emissions](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/steel/emissions/index.md)
- [Relationships](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/steel/links/index.md)