Global output of stainless steel fell by 3.5% in the first half of 2022

In January-June 2022, the world production of stainless steel decreased by 3.8% compared to the same period in 2021 – to 28.99 million tons. This is evidenced by non-profit organization International Stainless Steel Forum’s data.

In January-June, Europe, Ukraine in particular, reduced the production of stainless steel by 5.2% compared to 2021 – to 3.63 million tons. The United States reduced the index by 5.3% – to 1.09 million tons in six months.

In Asia, excluding China and South Korea, stainless steel production increased by 3.1% – up to 3.84 million tons, while China cut production by 5.3% – up to 16.35 million tons.

Some countries, in particular Brazil, South Africa, Indonesia, South Korea, the Russian Federation, etc., increased the output of stainless steel by 3.3% y/y in January-June – up to 4.08 million tons.

In the second quarter of 2022, the production of stainless steel increased by 0.7% compared to the previous quarter – up to 14.54 million tons. Europe reduced the indicator by 5% by January-March 2022 – to 1.77 million tons, the United States – by 8.6%, to 520 thousand tons, Asia (without China in South Korea) – by 3.7%, to 1.88 million tons. China increased the production of stainless steel by 4.1% by the first quarter – up to 8.34 million tons.

In the second quarter, other countries decreased production by 1.1% – to 2.03 million tons.

As GMK Center reported earlier, in 2021, the world production of stainless steel increased by 10.6% compared to 2020 – up to 56.3 million tons. In 2022, the global output of stainless steel is expected to grow by 4% – to 58.6 million tons.

According to the ISSF forecast, the world consumption of stainless steel in 2022 will increase by 3.2% compared to the previous year. In 2023, the indicator is expected to grow by another 3.2%. At the same time, in 2021, the consumption of stainless steel increased by 11.3% compared to the previous year.