Stainless production up

The International Stainless Steel Forum (ISSF) expects that stainless crude steel production in 2007 will be higher than the record-level of production in 2006, mostly driven by recovery from 2005 and some restocking.

The forecast was released during ISSF’s Annual Conference in Kyoto, Japan.

ISSF expects that global stainless crude steel production will reach 29.8 million metric tons (mmt) in 2007. This represents a rise of 5.1 % on 2006 production. The growth rate of 5.1% takes into account the very high level of supply which occurred in many countries during 2006 and caused a significant build-up of stainless steel stock at service centres and fabricators.

Actual global stainless steel production in 2006 increased by 16.7 % to 28.4 mmt compared to 2005. This more than compensated for the downturn in production during 2005 (-1,1%).

Asia is by the far largest stainless steel producing area in the world. During 2006, Asia again showed the strongest increased stainless steel production by almost 21%. ISSF expects further high growth of approximately 12% in 2007 to almost 16.9 mmt. In 2006, all Asian countries except South Korea contributed to this growth.