World output of crude stainless steel in the first half of this year was recently reported to have reached 12.9 million tonnes, an increase of almost 6 percent on the same period of 2004. This is much more closely in line with stainless steel's long-term growth trend than the 7.4 percent year-on-year advance seen in the first quarter of 2005 and the 9.1 percent rise in last year's second half. Almost all the growth in the first-half was in China where production rose by more than 50 percent year-on-year. Global output, excluding China, edged up by only 1.8 percent. Oversupply in China meant weak prices there - and ThyssenKrupp's Chinese cold strip rolling affiliate recorded a loss in the three months to the end of June. The most recent figures demonstrate the effects of mills restraining production - particularly in Europe, but also in some Asian countries - in order to address price falls by curbing excess supply. Several producers are continuing to cut output into the third quarter of the year as sales remain weak.
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