Global stainless steel production will hit a new record this year

Global crude stainless steel production is projected to total 40.2 million tonnes this year. This will be 5.7 percent higher than the previous high set last year. Output will grow for all major stainless steel producers in all regions.

EU output in the first six months of this year is estimated at 4 million tonnes, and for the year is projected to total 7.55 million tonnes, up 5.7 percent year on year.
Production in Japan from January to June is at the expected level of 1.65 million tons. A similar figure is expected in the second half of the year, resulting in an annual output of 3.3 million tonnes, up 4 percent from the previous year.

The release in the United States in the first half of 2014 also outpaced the previous forecast. The annual volume is projected at 2.1 million tons, up 3.4 percent from 2013. At the same time, the output of stainless wire and shaped products from stainless steels will grow by almost 30 percent in the total share of production stainless steel in the USA.

South Korean production is projected at 2.15 million tonnes in 2014. This corresponds to a 1.9 percent increase over last year. The forecast for stainless steel output in Taiwan this year was raised to 1.125 million tonnes per year, up 4.1 percent.

Chinese production exceeded expectations during the first half of 2014, increasing 6.4 percent year on year, to reach 20.2 million tonnes this year, more than half of the global total. The rest of the world stainless steel production is projected at 3.775 million tonnes in 2014, giving a growth rate of 7.8 percent over 2013.