The World Stainless Association (former International Stainless Steel Forum, ISSF) has reported that in the third quarter of 2022, the global production of stainless steel reached 12.794 million tons, which is 5.6% less than in the same period of the previous year.
In total, in the first nine months of 2022, according to the association’s statistics, 41.85 million tons of stainless steel has been produced worldwide. This was 5.1% less than in January-September 2021.
The biggest drop in three quarters was registered in the United States, where stainless steel production dropped 13.2% from a year ago to 1.59 million tons.
Production volume in the third quarter is estimated at 500 thousand tons, 9.4% less than the same period in 2021.
In the nine months, European companies produced 4.81 million tons of stainless steel, a decrease of 11.2% from a year ago. However, the third quarter figure was only 1.181 million tons, a drop of 25.5% from July-September 2021.
China accounted for more than 56% of global stainless steel production, producing 7.263 million tons of metal in the third quarter and 23.635 million tons for the three quarters as a whole. That’s 1.1% more and 5.2% less than a year earlier, respectively.
Total production in Japan, India and Taiwan amounted to 1.859 million tons in the third quarter and 5.745 million tons in the nine months, falling 9.1 and 0.4% behind last year, respectively.
And finally, companies from Indonesia, South Korea, Brazil, South Africa and Russia together produced 1.991 million tons of steel, 8.8% less than a year ago. Their total for the nine months was down 1.0% to 6.074 million tonnes.
