THE INTERNATIONAL Stainless Steel Forum has released preliminary figures indicating global stainless crude steel production has dropped in the first half of 2008.
The drop of 1.8% compared to the same period in 2007 represented a 2.9% drop in the first quarter and 0.6% in the second. All major regions had lower production volumes.
In Asia, stainless steel production declined by 1.5% to 8.3mmt. With the exception of China, all stainless steel producing countries reduced their production between 6 and 13%. In China, however, production rose by 10%.
Western Europe/Africa saw a 0.8% decrease in stainless steel production, to 4.9mmt for the six months.
In the Americas, there was a drop of 6.4% to 1.4mmt, whereas Eastern Europe suffered a decrease of 4.3%, although it had a low base volume.
In total, stainless crude steel production globally was 7.4mmt in both the first and second quarters of 2008.
Add a comment