Global stainless steel output for 2006

The International Stainless Steel Forum (ISSF) has announced that global stainless crude steel production rose 16.7 percent year on year to 28.4 million metric tons in 2006. Stainless steel production in Asia increased 20.6 percent year on year to 15.1 million metric tons in 2006. Asia now produces more than half of all stainless steel in the world. The second largest stainless steel producing region was Western Europe/Africa. Total output in the region amounted to ten million metric tons in 2006, up 13.4 from a year earlier. Production in the Americas region rose 9.8 percent year on year to nearly three million metric tons in 2006. Stainless steel production in the Central/Eastern Europe increased 17 percent year on year to 363,000 metric tons in 2006.

Stainless crude steel production (in ’000 metric tons)

                              
Region                       2005        2006    % Change 
Western Europe/Africa        8,795       9,972      13.4
Central and Eastern Europe     310         363      16.8
The Americas                 2,688       2,951       9.8
Asia                        12,498      15,074      20.6
Total World                 24,292      28,359      16.7