According to the preliminary figures released by the International Stainless Steel Forum (ISSF), global stainless crude steel production increased in the third quarter of 2009 by 17.19 percent compared to second quarter of this year to 7.064 million metric tons, while a year on year increase of 12.54 percent was also registered. All major regions showed relatively similar production volumes in the third quarter of 2009 compared to the year-ago quarter, while the stainless steel production volumes in the given quarter increased in all regions compared to the previous quarter.
Excluding China, stainless steel production in the Asia region rose slightly by 0.24 percent year on year to approximately 2.084 million metric tons in the third quarter of 2009, and was up 24.8 percent quarter on quarter. China increased its stainless steel production in the period in question by 51.36 percent year on year and by 8.88 percent quarter on quarter to 2.502 million metric tons. In the quarter in question, China's stainless steel production accounted for almost 35.5 percent of the world's total stainless steel production.
Western Europe/Africa reported an 8.18 percent year-on-year decrease in stainless steel production during the third quarter of 2009, while a quarter-on-quarter increase of 11.45 percent was seen.
In the Americas region, stainless crude steel production surged 18.8 percent year on year and was up 48.63 percent over the previous quarter, reaching 651,000 metric tons in the third quarter of 2009. In the same period, production in the Eastern Europe region showed a decrease of 18.67 percent year on year, but was up 50 percent quarter on quarter, totaling 75,000 metric tons.
Meanwhile, in the first nine months of this year, China's total stainless steel output amounted to 6.57 million metric tons - up 19.13 percent, Asia excluding China produced 5.04 million metric tons of stainless steel - down 23.16 percent, Western Europe plus Africa's stainless steel output totaled 4.64 million metric tons - down 31.52 percent, the Americas' output reached 1.5 million metric tons - down 23.84 percent, and, finally, the stainless steel output of Central and Eastern Europe amounted to 175,000 metric tons - down 38.16 percent, all compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.
