On May 19, the world Stainless Steel Association (ISSF) released the annual growth forecast of global stainless steel consumption in 2022 and 2023. The growth rate of stainless steel consumption in 2022 is expected to decrease from 11.3% in 2021 to 3.6%.

   The growth rate of stainless steel consumption in 2022 is expected to decrease from 11.3% in 2021 to 3.6%. Among them, the growth rate of consumption of cold rolled stainless steel flat products decreased from 10.6% to 4.1%, that of hot rolled stainless steel flat products decreased from 11.0% to 2.8%, that of stainless steel long products decreased from 15.7% to 2.4%, and that of semi-finished stainless steel long products decreased from 12.5% to 3.6%. By region, the growth rate of stainless steel consumption in Europe / Africa is expected to drop from 18.0% in 2021 to 1.8%, in the Americas from 26.8% to 5.2%, in Asia (excluding Chinese Mainland) from 18.8% to 4.9%, and in Chinese Mainland from 5.6% to 3.4%.

   The growth rate of stainless steel consumption in 2023 is expected to further drop to 3.2%. Among them, the consumption growth rate of cold-rolled stainless steel flat products continued to drop to 3.1%, while the consumption growth rate of hot-rolled stainless steel flat products, stainless steel long products and semi-finished stainless steel long products increased to 3.1%, 3.8% and 5.0% respectively. By region, the growth rate of stainless steel consumption in Europe / Africa is expected to increase to 2.8%, while that in the Americas, Asia (excluding Chinese Mainland) and Chinese Mainland will continue to decrease to 3.0%, 3.9% and 3.2% respectively.

   In addition, nornickel, a Russian nickel company, recently predicted that the global stainless steel production in 2022 is expected to be 60million tons, and 2.14 million tons of primary nickel will be required. Overall, the stainless steel industry will account for 67.5% of the global primary nickel demand.