In the fourth quarter of last year, world stainless crude steel output decreased by 9.9 percent quarter on quarter to 11.83 million mt, while falling by 5.7 percent compared to the same quarter of the previous year, according to the preliminary report released by the International Stainless Steel Forum (ISSF). Meanwhile, in 2018 world stainless crude steel output increased by 5.5 percent year on year, amounting to 50.73 million mt.
According to the ISSF data, in 2018 stainless crude steel production increased by 3.6 percent in China and moved up by 2.1 percent in the Asia region excluding China and South Korea, while increasing by two percent in the US and by 0.1 percent in Europe, all compared to 2017.
Stainless crude steel production (x 1,000 metric tons):
Region |
Quarter
|
Total |
||||
Q1 |
Q2 |
Q3 |
Q4 |
2018 |
y-o-y |
|
2,014 |
1,921 |
1,702 |
1,748 |
7,385 |
0.1 |
|
USA |
718 |
725 |
741 |
624 |
2,808 |
2 |
China |
6,533 |
6,823 |
7,189 |
6,161 |
26,706 |
3.6 |
Asia (excluding China and South Korea) |
2,079 |
2,090 |
2,043 |
1,983 |
8,195 |
2.1 |
Others |
1,439 |
1,429 |
1,456 |
1,311 |
5,635 |
35.9 |
TOTAL |
12,783 |
12,987 |
13,132 |
11,827 |
50,729 |
5.5 |