[ferro-alloys.com]

  According to ISSF, the global stainless steel production in 2020 decreased by 2.5% compared with that in 2019 to 50.89 million tons. This is the first decline in global stainless steel production since 2015. At the same time, however, the regional contrast in the market continues to intensify.

  In 2020, China's stainless steel industry will break through the 30 million tons mark for the first time in its history. After the failure of coronavirus epidemic in the first half of last year, the industry rose, exceeding the index of the same period by 11.2% in the second half and 2.5% at the end of the year.

  Among other Asian countries, Indonesia's stainless steel production increased by more than 15%, to about 2.5 million tons. As a result, it ranks third in the world, ahead of Japan, behind China and India.

  In general, except for China and Indonesia, stainless steel production in these two countries peaked in 2007 and has not been seen since 2018.

  In 2007, Chinese companies (especially Qingshan group) developed a high-efficiency stainless steel smelting scheme to directly produce nickel bearing cast iron from nickel ore. Chinese companies obtain these raw materials from neighboring Indonesia and the Philippines at extremely low cost, providing them with a low cost unmatched by their competitors.

  Only the large-scale use of anti-dumping duty can restrain the export of Chinese stainless steel. In 2020, the number will be 3.42 million, a decrease of 7% compared with the previous year.

  Only by imposing anti-dumping duties on a large scale will the export of Chinese stainless steel products be restricted. 2020. Trading volume was 3.42 million tons, down 7.0% from a year ago.

  However, the significant growth of stainless steel production in China mainly comes from the domestic market. In the past two decades, China's demand for stainless steel has expanded rapidly, from consumer goods manufacturers, industrial equipment manufacturers, medical equipment manufacturers, construction industry, and even public utilities.

  In 2020, China's apparent consumption of stainless steel has reached 25.61 million tons, about 900 million US dollars, an increase of about 6.5% over the previous year. This is equivalent to about 18.3 kg per capita per year. That's twice as much as five years ago, according to CRU. In terms of this indicator, China ranks third in the world, after Taiwan and South Korea.

• [Editor:Catherine Ren]