BIR World Mirror on Stainless Steel & Special Alloys - May 2012

Dear friends and colleagues, it is once again my pleasure to present the latest BIR Stainless Steel & Special Alloys World Mirror in time for our Autumn Convention in Barcelona. Our meeting will focus on up-to-date reports on the stainless steel market, including details of current important trends and consumer market demand.

The market is certainly changing with the merger in Europe of TKN and Outokumpu and the proposed opening of the new facility in Alabama, USA. In addition to our board members presenting their country/regional market reports, I will also be making a short presentation on “Stainless Steel Scrap - The Preferred Solution”. This will cover current global production and scrap availability, together with the effect of Chinese usage of nickel pig iron and the changing dynamics in stainless steel scrap in the USA.

Along with the board of the Stainless Steel & Special Alloys Committee, I look forward to meeting up with you in Barcelona and am confident we will have a very informative and interesting meeting. During our Spring meeting in Rome, we were enjoying good demand for our raw materials but unfortunately this has not continued throughout the rest of the year, and the fall-back in demand is only being countered by reduced scrap availability.

Stainless steel production Global stainless steel production has been forecast to increase by approximately 4% to a record 33.3m tonnes during 2012. Once again, the main drivers are China and India, without whose growth rates of up to 10% global production would have remained stagnant or even decreased.

Michael G. Wright
Chief Operating Officer
ELG Haniel GmbH
Chairman of the BIR Stainless Steel & Special Alloys Committee

Read the full market report in our members' area.