EU stainless steel market under pressure from imports

Although the European Union has launched anti-dumping investigations into the sale of stainless steel imported from mainland China and Taiwan, some European businesses continue to import stainless steel from Asia, increasing volumes.

The main stainless steel manufacturer in China is Baosteel. which offers prices for 304 grade cold rolled coils at RMB 1,400 per ton. In addition, the company decided to keep the prices of 304 hot rolled coils and 400 stainless steel products unchanged, which European manufacturers of similar products cannot afford.

At the same time, China's stainless steel production is growing steadily. In the first half of 2014 alone, it increased by 21.2 percent compared to last year and amounted to 10.69 million. During this period, production of 300 series stainless steel increased by 27.3 percent compared to 2013 and amounted to 5,560,000 million tons. Production of 200 and 400 series stainless steel products rose 13 percent and 18.1 percent year on year, respectively.

Meanwhile, the consumption of stainless steel in China during the first half of 2014 grew by only 13.5 percent, so the main bias in the marketing of their products was made by Chinese manufacturers to export. Thus, the export of stainless steel from the country in the first half of this year increased by 54.5 percent and amounted to 1,950,000 million tons.