Global Stainless Steel Production Continues to Rise

Figures recently released by MEPS International suggest that the annual global total of stainless steel production will continue to rise throughout 2015. Last year’s total stood at an all-time high of 41M tonnes, a 7.6% increase on the 2013 figure. MEPS has predicted that worldwide stainless steel output will increase by just under 5%, bringing 2015’s figure to a record-breaking peak of 43M tonnes.

With the exception of South Korea, all of the traditional stainless steel production regions saw an increase in output in 2014; Taiwan and some EU countries saw a moderate increase while Japan and the USA made particularly strong recoveries from 2013 figures. Though news of the increases was eagerly welcomed by established steelmaking regions, the fact that the figures remain significantly lower than the peak of 2006 is still a sobering consideration.

In recent years, production of stainless steel in China and some other emerging nations has boomed and China’s output for 2014 was estimated to be in excess of quadruple its 2006 figures. Though MEPS forecast that this growth will inevitably slow, it will still climb by around 5% this year, reaching almost 30M tonnes - this figure would represent more than half of global stainless steel production.