China: Crude stainless steel output up 9% in Jan-Sept'21

China's crude stainless steel (SS) output in the first three-quarters of CY'21 (Jan-Sept'21) was at 23.831 million tonnes (mn t), rising 1.894 mn t compared to 21.937 mn t in the same period in CY'20, an increase of 8.64% y-o-y.

The data was released by the stainless steel division of the China Special Steel Enterprises Association. It covered production, imports, exports and apparent consumption of stainless steel crude steel in Mainland China from Jan-Sept'21

Within this volume, the output of Cr-Ni stainless steel amounted to 11.45 mn t, an increase of 731,000 t, which is an increase of 6.82%, but its share decreased by 0.82% y-o-y to 48.05%.

The output of Cr-Mn series stainless steel was 7.433 mn t, an increase of 523,000 t, up 7.57%, and its share also decreased but by 0.31% to 31.19%.

The output of the Cr series stainless steel was 4.76 mn t, an increase of 596,000 t, up 14.3%. Its share increased by 0.99 percentage points to 19.98%.

An amount of 187,620 t of duplex stainless steel was produced, up by 44,993 t y-o-y, an increase of 31.55%.

Imports and exports

Over Jan-Sept'21, a volume of 2.157 mn t of stainless steel was imported (excluding waste and scrap), an increase of 1.019 mn t and 89.5% y-o-y. Among these, 1.011 mn t of stainless steel billets were imported, a y-o-y increase of 467,000 t, its share increasing 85.8%.

In addition, 43,000 t of stainless steel scrap were imported from January to September.

In Jan-Sept'21, 3.306 mn t of stainless steel were exported, a y-o-y increase of 901,000 t and a y-o-y increase of 37.5%.

Apparent consumption

The apparent consumption of stainless steel from Jan-Sept'21 reached 20.352 mn t, an increase of 1.852 mn t or 10% y-o-y.