According to statistics released by the International Stainless Steel Forum (ISSF), the global crude stainless steel production totaled 17.224 million tons in the first half of this year, down slightly by 0.2% year on year.
In the first half of this year, the crude stainless steel output in Asian countries, excluding China increased by 2.2% from a year earlier to 4.462 million tons.
In the given period of time, China's crude stainless steel output totaled 7.1 million tons, up by 1.1%; Eastern Europe's was less than 200,000 tons, falling by 9%; America's was at 1.22 million tons, decreasing by 11.3%.
Industry sources said that the reduced crude stainless steel product affected the demand for nickel and caused the nickel prices continue falling in the first half of this year.
It's known that the nickel prices had ever dropped to break the lowest level of this year US$15,000/ton during this July and August.