Preliminary figures released today by the International Stainless Steel Forum (ISSF) show that world stainless steel production decreased by 15% in the first nine months of 2009 when compared to the same period of 2008. However, production figures for the third quarter show an increase of 12.5% when compared to the same quarter in 2008.
Excluding China, stainless steel production in Asia was 5 million metric tons (mmt) in the first nine months of 2009, a decline of 23% compared to the same period of 2008. Production was reduced significantly in India and Japan while production levels remained flat in Korea and Taiwan, China.
Stainless production in China was 6.6 mmt in the first nine months of 2009, an increase of 19.1% on the same period of 2008. China now accounts for almost 37% of the world’s stainless production. At the end of the third quarter of 2008, China’s market share was just 26%.
The Western Europe/Africa region produced 4.6 mmt of stainless during the first nine months of 2009, a decrease of 31.5%. Production also declined in The Americas region to 1.5 mmt, a 22.9% drop on the same period of 2008. The volume of stainless produced in the Central and Eastern Europe region was just 0.2 mmt for the period, a drop of 38.2% on the previous year.

Third Quarter Recovery
Stainless steel production began to show a recovery in the third quarter of 2009. Most regions strongly increased their production levels during this period. Overall production increased by 12.5% in the third quarter of 2009 compared to the corresponding period the previous year

Austenitics Increase Market Share
The split between the main stainless steel grades shows an increase in the volume of austenitic stainless produced. The decline in the production of ferritic stainless has been caused by the global drop in automobile manufacturing which accounts for a large volume of chromium stainless. The market share of chromium-manganese stainless steels has decreased over the course of 2009 due to the recovery of stainless steel production outside China.