Magnetite
Magnetite is an iron ore that can be concentrated to a high grade and made into pellets for direct-reduction steelmaking. Sweden mines most of the EU’s iron ore.
Figures
Magnetite in four figures
EU imports
69Mt
of iron ore from outside the EU in 2025
Source: GMK Center
Main source
35%
Canada’s share of those imports. Brazil follows with 19% and Ukraine with 16%.
Source: GMK Center
EU production
86%
of iron ore mined in the EU came from LKAB in Sweden in 2025
Source: LKAB, Annual and Sustainability Report 2025
World output
2.6Gt
of iron ore mined in 2025. Australia mined 38%.
Source: USGS 2026
Data as of 27 October 2026
Pellets for steel
Pellets for direct reduction
Direct-reduction pellets worldwide: what announced plants would need, against what was used in 2025.
- Needed for announced plants190 Mt
- Used in 202548 Mt
One grain is about 1.9 Mt of direct-reduction pellets. Source: GMK Center
Outlook
What comes next
- LKAB deliveries
- 25.8 Mt of iron ore products in 2025, 87% of them pellets
- Price
- US$97.7 a dry tonne (62% Fe fines, China), September 2026
Sources: LKAB, Annual and Sustainability Report 2025; World Bank, Pink Sheet
Origin
Where iron ore comes from
Use
Where magnetite is used
Metals and steel
884,000
people employed in the EU basic metals industry, 2023
Source: Eurostat
Turnover
€471bn
of the EU basic metals industry, 2023
Source: Eurostat
- GMK Center, The EU has reduced its imports of raw materials by 11% since 2020 (1 June 2026)
- GMK Center, DRI expansion vs pellet gap: production surge & feedstock crunch (18 June 2026)
- LKAB, Annual and Sustainability Report 2025
- USGS, Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026
- World Bank, Pink Sheet, October 2026
- Eurostat, structural business statistics 2023
