Global Stainless Steel Consumption to Rebound in 2020: ISSF

In a recently held meeting of ISSF (International Stainless Steel Federation) in Mexico, it has been projected by the federation that the global stainless steel consumption which is set to slow down this year will rebound in 2020.

According to the estimates, the world's stainless consumption is forecast to grow 2.4% this year, down from a growth rate of 4.8% in 2018, and then rise by a further 4.4% in 2020.

In terms of various products' consumption, stainless steel cold rolled and hot rolled flat products consumption is set to rise by 2.9% and 2.7%, respectively, this year, with long products unchanged year on year and long products semis down 0.3%. For 2020 all product groups were expected to see consumption growth, with cold rolled flat products at 5%, hot rolled flat products at 3.5%, long products at 3% and long products semis at 2.8%.

In terms of regional consumption, ISSF has estimated that the Chinese consumption growth is expected to reach 8.6% in 2019, up from 6.9% in 2018, while all other regions are forecast to see lower consumption that includes -0.7% in Asia excluding China (down from 4.7% in 2018), -5.7% in Europe/Africa (down from 1.2%), and -7.6% in U.S. (down from 1.3% last year). Thus, the strong consumption growth in China for 2019 is likely to offset declines in other regions.

For 2020, China's consumption growth is expected to slow to 7.2%, with other regions returning to modest growth of 2% in Asia excluding China, 0.4% in Europe/Africa and 1.6% in U.S.

In terms of production, the global stainless steel production rose slightly in the first half of 2019 to 26.1 MnT from 25.6 MnT in the corresponding period last year, with highest production being recorded by China at 14.4 MnT followed by Asia (w/o China and S.Korea) at 3.9 MnT, Europe at 3.7 MnT and U.S. at 1.4 MnT.