The International Stainless Steel Forum (ISSF) has released preliminary stainless crude steel production figures which show that 24.6 million metric tons (mmt) of stainless was produced during 2009. This is a decline of 5.2% on 2008. However, the decrease was not even around the world with some regions reporting that production declined by up to 30%, while in other areas stainless fabrication increased by up to 27%. This result probably reflects the uneven nature of the global economic downturn which has seen some countries and regions affected more than others. Similarly, some areas of the world have recovered quicker from the downturn than others. Excluding China, Asian stainless production declined by 11.6% to 7.1mmt. While the level of stainless fabrication remained flat in Korea during 2009, it increased by 13% in Taiwan, China. Production declined in Japan by 27% during the year while in India the drop was 11%. China has been the driving force in the stainless industry and that trend continued in 2009. Production grew by 26.8% compared to 2008 to reach 8.8mmt. Including China, Asia now makes almost 65% of the world’s stainless steel. Production in the Western Europe/Africa region declined by 22% in 2009 with total volume reaching just 6.5mmt. Except for South Africa, all countries in the region reported significant declines in production, some as high as 50%.
