Brussels, 26 March 2007 - The International Stainless Steel Forum (ISSF) has announced that stainless steel production rose by 16.7% to 28.4 million metric tons (mmt) in 2006. All major regions of the world contributed to this strong growth.
Crude stainless steel production in Asia grew by 20.6% to 15.1 mmt. Asia now produces more than half of all stainless steel in the world. The driving force was China with production of 5.3 mmt of stainless steel, a growth of 68% compared to 2005. The strong increase in production is partially based on new capacity which came on-stream during 2006.
Until now Japan has been the largest stainless steel producer in Asia. In 2006, total production in Japan was 4.1 mmt, an increase of 2.3%. All other stainless steel producing countries in Asia showed growth rates of between 9 and 13%. However, production in South Korea remained flat.
The second biggest producing area in 2006 was Western Europe/Africa. Stainless steel production increased by 13.4% to 10 mmt in this region. Due to internal reshuffling of company production within different countries, a comparison of country data is not meaningful.
The Americas increased their stainless steel production by 9.8% to nearly 3 mmt. Production in the Central/Eastern Europe region increased by 17% to 363,000 thousand metric tons.
It must be noted that 2005 saw a small decline in world stainless steel production of -1.1%. However, the increase in 2006 growth more than just compensates for the production decline in 2005.
Table 1: Stainless and heat-resisting crude steel production (in ‘000 metric tons)
|
Region |
Full year |
+/- % |
Full Year |
Y-o-Y
+/- % |
|
2004 |
2005 |
2005 |
2006 |
|
Western Europe/Africa |
9,422 |
8,795 |
-6.6 |
8,795 |
9,972 |
13.4 |
|
Central and Eastern Europe |
318 |
310 |
-2.5 |
310 |
363 |
16.8 |
|
The Americas |
2,933 |
2,688 |
-8.3 |
2,688 |
2,951 |
9.8 |
|
Asia |
11,897 |
12,498 |
5.0 |
12,498 |
15,074 |
20.6 |
|
World total |
24,570 |
24,292 |
-1.1 |
24,292 |
28,359 |
16.7 |
Source: International Stainless Steel Forum (ISSF)
After flat production growth in the first quarter of 2006, growth rates increased significantly in quarters 2 and 3. This was followed by a slightly lower growth rate in quarter 4. Growth was initially driven by strong general economic development and the need to re-fill empty stocks after severe production cuts in the second half of 2005.
Table 2: Stainless and heat-resisting crude steel production (in ‘000 metric tons)
|
Region |
Quarter 1 |
+/- % Y-o-Y |
Quarter 2 |
+/- % Y-o-Y |
Quarter 3 |
+/- % Y-o-Y |
Quarter 4 |
+/- % Y-o-Y |
|
2005 |
2006 |
2005 |
2006 |
2005 |
2006 |
2005 |
2006 |
|
Western Europe/Africa |
2,448 |
2,421 |
-1.1 |
2,417 |
2,615 |
8.2 |
1,813 |
2,384 |
31.5 |
2,112 |
2,545 |
20.5 |
|
Central/Eastern Europe |
70 |
87 |
24.7 |
79 |
97 |
22.7 |
82 |
102 |
24.1 |
79 |
85 |
7.3 |
|
The Americas |
731 |
760 |
4.1 |
730 |
808 |
10.7 |
592 |
757 |
27.9 |
646 |
693 |
7.3 |
|
Asia |
3,336 |
3,348 |
0.4 |
3,216 |
3,735 |
16.1 |
2,931 |
3,824 |
30.5 |
3,015 |
4,196 |
39.2 |
|
World total |
6,585 |
6,617 |
0.5 |
6,442 |
7,256 |
12.6 |
5,418 |
7,067 |
30.4 |
5,852 |
7,520 |
28.5 |
Source: International Stainless Steel Forum (ISSF)
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