Global stainless steel production to hit record highs in 2015 - MEPS

A leading steel sector consultancy predicts global stainless steel production is set to hit new highs this year. Global production is projected to grow 3.4 percent during 2015 and hit a new record of 43.1 million tonnes. World production was 41.7 million tonnes in 2014, showing a steady increase of 8.3 percent over 2013.

Stainless steel production in the European Region was 7.2 million tonnes in 2014, up 1.4 percent from the previous year. However, in 2014, stainless steel yields in the EU region were 23 percent lower than their peak in 2006. EU production is expected to pick up slightly in the short to medium term due to anti-dumping duties on imports of cold rolled coils from China and Taiwan.

US stainless steel output rose nearly 16 percent in 2014 to more than 2.3 million tonnes. MEPS predicts modest growth in U.S. production in 2015 to 2.4 million tonnes per year. Likewise, Japanese stainless steel production is expected to grow moderately to 3.35 million tonnes in 2015, up from a total of 3.3 million tonnes in 2014.

Taiwan stainless output rose nearly 2.6 percent in 2014 to 1.1 million tonnes, but growth is likely to stagnate over the course of this year. On the other hand, South Korea's stainless steel output fell nearly 4.3 percent over the past year, to a total of just over 2 million tonnes. However, MEPS is forecasting a modest 1.5 percent growth in 2015.