Stainless output receding globally

Worldwide stainless steel melt shop production decreased by 1.7 percent year on year to 28.4 million metric tons in the first six months of the year, according to the Brussels-based World Stainless association.

Total stainless steel output in the first half of this year checked in at 28.4 million metric tons, meaning nearly 500,000 fewer metric tons were shipped from melt shops compared with the same timeframe in 2022.

Regional breakdowns published by World Stainless show Chinese mills continues to churn out stainless steel this year. The nearly 17.6 million metric tons made in China in the first half of this year—nearly 62 percent of the world’s total—is up by 8.2 percent compared with last year’s first-half output.

The rest of the world’s stainless sector, meanwhile, has suffered through double-digit drops in stainless steel production so far.

In Europe, stainless steel output fell 13.4 percent year on year in the first half of 2023, while the United States has reported a very similar 13.5 percent decline in production.

World Stainless places the rest of the world’s output in two categories—one known as Asia without China and South Korea, and the remaining known as “others” and including South Korea, Brazil, Indonesia, Russia and South Africa.

In the Asia-without-China category, year-to-date output is down by 14.6 percent while production has dropped by 15.2 percent in the World Stainless "others" category.

In the scrap metal sector, the reduced flow of stainless scrap in Europe and North America seems to have kept pricing from suffering steep declines, according to traders who have spoken to Recycling Today. Those same traders acknowledge, however, that a stainless scrap surplus has a steady flow material moving offshore in 2023.

Another source of optimism in the stainless scrap sector is an emerging preference for scrap as a feedstock by companies seeking lower carbon footprints in their supply chains, according to presenters at a recent industry event.