Abstract: Industrially pure oxygen is blown into molten pig iron in a converter by means of at least one tuyere located below the upper surface of the molten metal. A quantity (such as amplitude, frequency, acceleration, or speed) characterizing movement of the converter is measured continuously while the oxygen is blown in. An instant at which this quantity undergoes a sudden and considerable decrease is detected. From that instant onwards, the amount of oxygen necessary and sufficient to provide the steel with a desired quality is blown in. The required amount of oxygen is determined from an empirical relationship between the amount of oxygen blown in after the instant and either the phosphorus content of the steel or the iron content of the slag.