According to the Stainless Steel Report March 2012 issued by Germany-based service centre Damstahl, after a temporary demand improvement due to speculative buying for stocks in January and February this year, the European stainless steel market has softened again in March and April. In contrast to continuing weakness of the markets in southern Europe, demand from end-users in Damstahl-Land which includes Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Netherlands, Norway and the UK, remained satisfactory in all months of the first quarter, but started to slow in April. Damstahl forecasts a positive market growth in the European stainless steel market for 2012.
According to the report, European stainless steel crude steel production reached 7.6 million mt last year, while in the first two months of this year production was only marginally above the same period last year. Stainless production was mainly fed by improved order intake from distributors due to increasing raw material prices. For the second quarter, a drop in production is expected due to the current reluctance of distributors to place orders.