Stainless Steel Council of China Special Steel Enterprises Association announces China's production of stainless crude steel in the period from January to September in 2014 was 16.0221 million tonnes up by 17.4% from the year earlier period. The production of all types of steel was up from the year earlier period, which arose especially from the increase in the production of nickel containing products (300 series).

Although it is quite obvious the production volume in the calendar year 2014 will exceed 20 million tonnes, the increasing pace is regarded as one of the factors for supply pressure not only in the Asian zone but also in the European zone.

The rough estimate on the quarterly production shows that the production of stainless crude steel in the period from July to September was down from the prior period. As for the production by steel type, only production of chrome containing products (400 series) was good and up from the prior period, which however bowed to pressure from decreased production of nickel containing and manganese containing products.

Besides, this announcement also reports the import and export volumes of stainless steel with its apparent consumption and the details are as shown in the table below.