The World Steel Association was founded as the International Iron and Steel Institute on 19 October 1967.
It changed its name to World Steel Association on 6 October 2008.
worldsteel is a non-profit organisation with headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. A second office in Beijing, China, opened in April 2006.

The Latin American Iron and Steel Institute -ILAFA-, a civil non-profit organization, was founded in 1959 in Santiago de Chile, after Latin American steel entrepreneurs and industrialists gathered motivated by the strong desire of regional integration. It is recognized as an International Non-Governmental Organization by the Government of the Republic of Chile, venue of its General Secretariat, and as an Organization in Consultative Status with the United Nations