Melted production picks-up in Q1

摘要

Last year, world melted production recovered swiftly from the economic downturn boosted by strong restocking activity along the entire stainless supply chain. This year, however, we expect stock replenishment to be limited which will be reflected in lower growth rates for 2011 melted output. Nevertheless, we expect global stainless production to increase by a very healthy 7.4% y-o-y in Q1, mainly driven by strong end-user demand in China but supported by solid improvements in consumption elsewhere.