BIR World Mirror on Stainless Steel & Special Alloys - May 2011

It does not seem six months ago that we were in Brussels and publishing the previous Stainless Steel & Special Alloys World Mirror, and here we are looking forward to another very successful BIR Convention in Singapore at the fabulous Shangri-La Hotel.

We are delighted to have speaking at our plenary session on Monday 23rd May two of the leading analysts in the industry. The first is Dmitry Kuznetsov, Chief Analyst of Norilsk Nickel, one of the world’s leading mining companies, with its headquarters in Russia.

Norilsk, as you are no doubt aware, is one of the largest global producers of nickel and Dmitry will present to us his outlook on the world nickel market with emphasis on the situation in 2011 and the company’s long-term analysis. It will be particularly interesting to hear from Dmitry how he sees the threat of nickel pig iron being used increasingly in China.

We are also very honoured to welcome Markus Moll, Managing Director of Steel & Metals Market Research in Austria. He will be giving us an in-depth assessment of the stainless steel and speciality steel markets, with particular focus on Asia. Currently, China and India produce approximately 50% of global stainless steel and it will be interesting to hear Markus’s thoughts on how this continued rapid expansion will affect the more mature markets such as Europe and the USA.

We do hope you will join us at our plenary session where you will be encouraged to ask our speakers and also the board members any questions you have regarding the interesting and volatile stainless market.

It is my pleasure on behalf of the rest of the board to present you with this May 2011 edition of the Stainless Steel & Special Alloys World Mirror to coincide with our Singapore Convention.

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.