World stainless steel production increased by almost 10%

Stainless steel production statistics released by the International Forum (ISSF) show a significant jump in global metal production during the first three months of 2018. Stainless steel output rose 9.5% year over year during the first quarter of this year. Over the previous quarter, production rose marginally by 1.8%.

Production of stainless steel products in the first quarter of 2018 amounted to 12.767 million tonnes. This is up 9.5% compared to production of 11.664 million tonnes during the corresponding quarter a year earlier. For the previous quarter, production showed a stepping-up of 1.8%. Global stainless steel production in the fourth quarter of 2017 was 12.545 million tonnes.

In the previous quarter, the US and Europe recorded a significant jump in stainless steel production. European production increased by 10% from 1.830 million tonnes in the fourth quarter of the 17th to 2.014 million tonnes in the first quarter of this year. Over the previous year, European production increased slightly by 1.7%. US production rose 9.8% from 654,000 tons in the fourth quarter from 17 to 718,000 tons in the first quarter of the 18th. For the previous year, the release of the registered marginal decline of 0.4%.

A 6.5% increase in sales in China over the previous year was a key driver of the previous year's production growth. This year, production in China was 6.524 million tonnes, accounting for over 51% of global production. In the corresponding quarter of last year, production in China was only 6.155 million tonnes. Compared to the previous quarter, production in China fell 1.9%.

Production in the Asia region, excluding China and South Korea, was 2.072 million tonnes in the first three months of 2018. Manufacturing reported a 4% increase over the prior year and a 1.6% decline over the prior quarter.