China's 2024 crude stainless output grows by 8% on year

China's total output of crude stainless steel continued to move up in 2024, with the total tonnage rising by another 2.77 million tonnes or 7.5% on year to touch a new high of 39.44 million tonnes, according to the latest release by the Stainless Steel Council of China Iron and Steel Association (CSSC) on January 22.

Among the total, production of all stainless series increased by varying degrees last year, with the volume of 400-series stainless posting the sharpest rise, in percentage terms of 10.7% to reach 7.2 million tonnes, the CSSC statistics showed. 

China's 2024 crude stainless steel output (Unit: million tonnes)

Source: CSSC

Besides, China's production of high-end duplex stainless also increased last year to reach 411,693 tonnes, up by 18,312 tonnes or 4.7% from the previous year, accounting for 1.04% of the country's total stainless output, according to the association. 

China's apparent consumption of stainless steel maintained the uptrend in 2024 to stand at 32.49 million tonnes, growing by 1.41 million tonnes or 4.5% from the prior year. Last year, China's stainless exports came in at 5.04 million tonnes, soaring by 906,900 tonnes or 21.9% from the previous year. 

For 2024, China imported 1.88 million tonnes of stainless products in total, falling by 193,200 tonnes or 9.3% on year, and the tonnage imported from Indonesia fell by 130,500 tonnes or 7.7% on year to 1.56 million tonnes, the release showed. 

The results suggested a better performance in stainless demand at home and abroad in 2024, and stainless inventories held by both domestic mills and traders stayed at a relatively low level, Mysteel Global noted. 

Mysteel's survey among the 15 Chinese stainless producers under its tracking showed that their stainless inventories averaged 1.04 million tonnes in 2024, down by 5.7% on year. 

Last year, total stainless inventories at the 42 warehouses sampled in Wuxi in East China's Jiangsu and the 25 warehouses in Foshan in South China's Guangdong – the country's two core stainless trading hubs under Mysteel's regular survey– registered 897,838 tonnes on average, lower by 3.9% from the prior year. 

Source:Mysteel Global