At the Bureau of International Recycling's (BIR) Stainless Steel and Special Alloys Round Table held at the end of October in Munich, Sven Tollin, chief statistician at the Portugal-based International Nickel Study Group (INSG), stated that China's nickel pig iron (NPI) production rose from zero in 2005 to around 170,000 mt in 2010, while also indicating the "enormous" decline in the country's stainless scrap imports from close to 380,000 mt in 2009 to nearer 80,000 mt last year.
According to Barry Hunter of Hunter Alloys LLC in the USA, the ability of Chinese stainless producers to switch quickly between these two raw materials depending on the LME nickel price represented potentially "a fundamental shift in the market".
Delegates in Munich also learned that the INSG is projecting global primary nickel usage increases of around six percent for both 2011 and 2012; however, production is expected to leap 11 percent this year and potentially a further nine percent in 2012. Therefore, there will be no shortage of primary nickel in the market in the near future, Mr Tollin indicated.
Meanwhile, global stainless steel production is likely to total around 32 million mt this year - well short of the 35 milliıon mt previously projected, the meeting was told by the chairman of the BIR Stainless Steel and Special Alloys Committee, Michael Wright of ELG Haniel. The post-summer pick-up in demand for stainless steel products was not as strong as had been hoped, while the outlook for the fourth quarter of 2011 and the first three months of 2012 remained uncertain, he said.