Romania ranked 38th among steel producers worldwide in 2016, down one place compared to the previous year, according to the World Steel Association.

The local production reached 3.3 million tons last year, down 1.2% compared to the previous year.

Romania was surpassed by Pakistan, which saw an annual growth of 22.8% in its steel production to 3.6 million tons. It recorded the biggest increase among the 66 countries that reported data to the World Steel Association.

At global level, the steel production increased by 0.8% last year to about 1.63 billion tons. Almost half of all quantity was produced in China, namely over 808 million tons. Japan ranked second, with 104.8 million tons, followed by India, with a production of 95.6 million tons.

Romania’s biggest steel producer is ArcelorMittal Galati. Most of the smaller steel plants in the country were closed in recent years, due to financial problems.