According to the ISSF data, the biggest decrease appears to be in the the Asia region excluding China with a 3.6 percent drop in production during the first quarter of 2013 compared to the same period last year. Total production is reported to be 2.1 million mt.
Eastern Europe stainless production in the first quarter this year declined by three percent, while the Western Europe/Africa region showed a decline of 2.8 percent, both year on year. Meanwhile, stainless production was almost stable in the Americas region in the year-on-year comparison.
The ISSF said that only China increased production of stainless crude steel significantly in the first quarter, up by 18.3 percent year on year to 4.4 million mt, noting that the Chinese authorities have revised some stainless steel statistics which may lead to these numbers being increased.
Comparing the first three months of 2013 with the last quarter of 2012, global stainless steel production levels showed some improvement. However, according to ISSF, it should be noted that production levels were somewhat depressed in the last quarter of 2012. The ISSF expects a slight increase in global stainless steel production in the full year of 2013.
Stainless crude steel production (x 1,000 metric tons):
Region |
Change q-o-q |
Q1 |
Change y-o-y |
|||
Q4 2012 |
Q1 2013 |
2012 |
2013 (p) |
|||
Western Europe/Africa |
1,798 |
2,148 |
19.5 |
2,211 |
2,148 |
-2.8 |
Central and Eastern Europe |
85 |
84 |
-0.6 |
87 |
84 |
-3 |
The Americas |
545 |
601 |
10.3 |
607 |
601 |
-1.1 |
Asia (excluding China) |
2,140 |
2,146 |
0.2 |
2,226 |
2,146 |
-3.6 |
China* |
4,480 |
4,404 |
-1.7 |
3,722 |
4,404 |
18.3 |
World total |
9,047 |
9,384 |
3.7 |
8,853 |
9,384 |
6 |