1982 was described as the 'worst year in memory' for the steel industry, and recovery was seriously affected by another oil crisis. However, towards the decade's end, the steel industry experienced a significant turnaround and consumption increased. Continuous casting helped meet demand and improved productivity, providing an efficient and cost-effective alternative to ingot casting.

Some of the decade's most important events also happened during the closing years, when Eastern Europe underwent major changes. The Berlin Wall came down, Poland had its first free elections and Hungary, Romania and the former Czechoslovakia acquired greater democracy. The US and Canada signed a free trade agreement. On balance, as the world's population passed the 5 billion mark, the global economy prospered.

Steel quality was improving, enabling lighter products with greater tensile strength. The steel industry underwent significant restructuring. For example, in the US large plants were replaced by local mini mills to supply local needs. In Europe the privatisation wave which had commenced in the UK in 1988 with British Steel, continued.

In comparison to the decade's difficult start, 1989 was considered the industry's best year ever. Reflecting the increasing importance of Asia's steel industry, worldsteel's new members include China Steel Corporation (Taiwan, China), Dongkuk (South Korea), Hyundai (South Korea) and Aichi (Japan).

We continued to drive industry solutions to tackle environmental challenges. While improving energy usage tops the list, the steel industry also paid particular attention to the effects of noise and finding ways to reduce it.

In 1985 the first United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Consultative Committee meeting took place. And the decade ended with the steel industry's third World Conference on Environmental Control.

This decade saw the advent of the World Wide Web. It revolutionised the way we communicate, share knowledge and conduct business. By the turn of the century, society had become almost totally reliant on computers.

At the start of the decade, tensions between East and West eased with the formal end of the Cold War. However, in the Middle East tensions rose as war raged in the Persian Gulf.

Restructuring of the steel industry continued on a huge scale mostly driven by globalisation. The industry's efficiency endeavours were also successful with average product yield rising from 78 to 89 tonnes per 100 tonnes of crude steel. Mainland China became the world's largest producer, as the country's steel consumption more than doubled.

By the close of the decade, the Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) process accounted for one third of world steel production. After 20 years of restructuring, a more efficient, sustainable and safer steel industry was better placed than ever to meet the challenges of the new millennium.

The end of the Cold War opened up trade with eastern Europe. Federations in Hungary, Poland, Romania, the Czech and Slovak Republics and Slovenia joined our association. Tata and Essar Steel from India also became our members. Now, with 181 members across 50 countries, we took the next step and began encouraging the participation of steelmakers in mainland China.

On the environmental front, worldsteel was involved in the 1992 Earth summit in Rio de Janeiro. The summit led to an agreement on the Steel Industry Sustainability Development policy. Together with the UNEP, we created guidelines for environmental management. In 1993, worldsteel held its first steelManagement course. These courses still take place today. This was followed in 1995 with the release of the first global steel industry Life Cycle Inventory (LCI). One year later, the UltraLight Steel Auto Body (ULSAB) consortium was launched to develop a new generation of Advanced High Strength Steels to make lighter, safer and environmentally efficient vehicles.

In 1998, after 20 years at the helm of the organisation, Lenhard J. Holschuh retired as Director General to be replaced by Ian Christmas. Finally, the most important initiative of the decade was the launch of our accident-free work programme in 1999.

The 00's was a decade of financial woes in the West. First, the 'dot-com bubble' burst. Then markets underwent a mini-collapse. A strong recovery followed between 2003 and 2007, until the mortgage cave-in led to the 2008 financial disaster. In Asia, however, the situation was very different, and a booming China emerged as a major world economic power. China's steel production also rose dramatically in the decade from 128.5 Mt in 2000 to 638.7 Mt in 2010, an annualised growth rate of approximately 17.4%.

In 2001, 178 nations approved the Kyoto Protocol global warming treaty. Soon after, major natural disasters, including the terrible tsunami in Asia and Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast, provided deadly reminders of Earth's fragility.

The Indian Ocean tsunami, which destroyed countless structures across 14 countries, had a major impact on future building design. The growing demand for safer construction relied heavily on steel. By continuously improving its properties over the decades, steel had been giving architects more building for less steel. Even so, limits were being reached in improvements to existing steel production processes. So the steel industry turned its attention to 'breakthrough technology'. Real innovations were – and still are – needed to make significant advances in steelmaking.

Industry consolidation was also a feature of the decade, notably Tata acquiring Corus and Arcelor and Mittal Steel combining to form ArcelorMittal. The ULSAB family of consortiums evolved to become WorldAutoSteel and a new customer focused programme – FutureSteelVehicle – was launched.

worldsteel celebrated many 'firsts' during the 00's. In 2002, steeluniversity went online. This was followed in 2006 with the launch of our online steelmaking challenge, now an annual event. In 2004, we published one of the world's first industry sustainability reports. In 2006, our safety and health principles were agreed and this was followed by the launch of our Safety and Health Recognition Programme in 2008.

Nucor of the US became our first solely EAF member, and Severstal the first Russian member. We also welcomed our first members from China – Anshan, Baosteel, Handan, Shougang, Wuhan – as well as the China Iron and Steel Association, and in 2006 we opened a new office in Beijing, China. In 2008 we enhanced our identity, as IISI became the World Steel Association.

World population has reached 7.5 billion and continues to grow with estimates that we will reach 8.5 billion by 2030. Sustainability is society's focus and the Kyoto Protocol has been extended to 2020. Meanwhile, the steel industry is progressively involved in the formation of the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) as agreed at the Paris 2016 Climate Agreement.

In Japan, an earthquake and tsunami caused widespread devastation. The waves damaged the Fukushima nuclear power plant, causing serious radiation leaks. The combined disasters harmed the country's economy and slowed growth in global markets.

Following a decade of boom years, China has become one of the world's largest economies. Since 2013, growth has begun to level off, but China still has a 45% share of world steel consumption.

The steel industry reached several landmarks in the 10's. Energy intensity has been reduced by a massive 60% since the 60's. Furthermore, virtually all emissions to air or soil are now managed to the highest regulations. Water is 'borrowed' rather than used, with virtually all water returned to its source, often much cleaner than when it was extracted.

In 2010 worldsteel held its first Steel Awards ceremony: the Steelies. In 2011 Ian Christmas retired and Edwin Basson joined as our new Director General. In 2014 the industry launched its first Steel Safety Day in support of the global campaign run by the International Labour Organization (ILO). This has become an annual event. This was followed by the publication of our first position paper on climate change and a low carbon future.

Our organisation now represents 85% of world steel production with over 160 steel producers, associations and research institutes, including 9 of the world's 10 biggest companies.

Our campaign, Steel: the permanent material in the circular economy, was launched in 2016. It highlights the reuse and recycling benefits of steel. At the same time, we have renewed R&D efforts into process technologies. Solutions need to be more aligned with climate change pressures, one example being carbon capture utilisation and storage.

worldsteel received Belgian Royal recognition in July 2017, an acknowledgment of 50 years of performance, quality and stability.