China stainless steel crude production update

An in depth analysis of the Chinese stainless steel industry conducted by SMI GmbH during the past 3 months revealed that Chinese producers have reshaped the stainless steel landscape to an even larger extent than previously anticipated. For the first time, Chinese producers melted more than 20 million tonnes of stainless steel which also catapulted the global melt production to over 40 million tonnes.

Chinese production accounted for 50.5 % of the global output in 2013. The total stainless crude production climbed to 20.5 million tonnes in 2013 (up 17 % from 17.5 million in 2012) and finished product output reached 18 million tonnes (up 16 % from 15.5 million in 2012). Production volumes of more than 100 Chinese plants (including around 60 with own melting) were aggregated and all double-counting was eliminated.

The crude output of the major state owned and foreign invested producers (TISCO, Baosteel, LISCO, ZPSS, JISCO, Dongbei) increased by 11 % in 2013. Private producers contributed to most of the growth: their combined crude production rose by 24 % in 2013.

The biggest increase came from Tsingshan Group which already is the second largest producer of stainless steel in China behind the state owned giant TISCO. Eight producers were melting more than 1 million tonnes in 2013, including newcomer Beihai Chengde which started production in 2012 in southern Guangxi Province.