ISSF REDUCES 2003 FORECAST, BUT PREDICTS STRONG 2004

摘要

Production of stainless steel in 2003 will rise by 4 percent over 2002's 20.09m-tonne output to 20.88m tonnes, according to an estimate issued by the International Stainless Steel Forum at its 7th annual congress in Berlin on May 12. Using stainless steel ingot/slab production as the basis for its figures, the ISSF said that its forecast has been reduced from what it predicted at the end of 2002 because of a "weaker-than-expected economic recovery". Production out of Western Europe and Africa should rise from 8.6m to 8.85m tonnes this year; out of Central and Eastern Europe from 165,000 to 200,000 tonnes, out of the Americas from 2.77m to 2.83m tonnes and out of Asia from 8.55m to 9m tonnes. The ISSF made clear that slower-than-expected growth in China, by far the world's largest stainless steel consumer, lay behind the lower forecast.