Steel Production in 2016 — MEPS Predictions Revealed

The most recent MEPS Stainless Steel Review has shown some extremely positive figures in terms of global stainless steel production for 2015 and predicts that 2016 will see records being broken. Throughout the constant changes in the various industries connected with stainless steel, we remain faithful to our dedication of ensuring that our customers consistently receive products of the best professional quality coupled with a competitive market price and impeccable customer service from start to finish.

Global Stainless Steel Production 2015/16 - Facts and Figures

• In 2015, stainless steel production across the globe is estimated to have been just less than 41.5m tonnes - this figure is around 0.5% less than the highest ever achieved, which happened in 2014

• Worldwide output is predicted by MEPS to increase by approximately 2% this year, boosting the figure to an all-time high of 42.3m tonnes

• During the second half of 2015, production was less than predicted earlier. In all of the traditional stainless steel-producing regions, with the notable exception of South Korea, had a lower outturn than previous year

• Growth rate in China slowed but the output from countries in the ‘Others’ classification continued to show strong expansion, achieving a total of an impressive 4.1m tonnes

• Chinese production has fallen off slightly after years of fast and far-reaching development - its production capacity is far higher than its domestic consumption and , with sluggish global demand, import tariffs on Chinese steel have been imposed by several countries. Even still, China is still responsible for more than half of the crude stainless steel production in the world and MEPS predicts a mediocre increase of 1.7% in China’s output this year

• Japan had an outturn of around 3m tonnes, noticeably less than last year and 25% less than their best year in 2006. A predicted rise of 5% in outturn for 2016 should help to restore this deficit

• Production in South Korea showed strong growth - 9% in 2015. MEPS do not, however, predict any significant increases this year

• Taiwanese output dropped back slightly but is predicted to experience a slight recovery in 2016 of around 2.7%, a little less than last year

• United States producers experienced a small output decrease but will also recover with a figure of around 2.4m tonnes in 2016

• MEPS predicts that EU production, which slipped by around 2% last year, will return to its 2014 figure of 7.25m tonnes

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