Recycling Today archives
Melt shop production of stainless steel rose by 5 percent in this year’s second quarter compared with the previous three months and by 3.1 percent compared with one year earlier.
The output increases were tracked by the WorldStainless office of the Brussels-based World Steel Association, which gathers information from around the world.
According to WorldStainless, total global stainless steel melt shop production for the second quarter of 2025 measured about 16.36 million metric tons (mmt).
That total represents a 5 percent increase compared with the 15.58 mmt of production in this year’s first quarter and is 3.1 percent higher compared with the 15.87 mmt made from April through June 2024.
The rising production was not spread evenly throughout the world, however, with mills in China and the United States reporting higher recent output while mills in Europe and in Asia beyond China have been slowing down.
The biggest rise in output was a considerable 9.6 percent increase in Chinese production in this year’s second quarter compared with the previous quarter. Chinese output also was up in Q2 2025 compared with last year’s second quarter, by 3.9 percent.
In the larger carbon steel market, China produces more than half of the world’s steel while hosting about 17 percent of its population. In the stainless sector, the imbalance is even greater, with China having produced about 64 percent of the global total in this year’s second quarter.
Stainless mills in the U.S., which produce about 5 percent as much metal as those in China, enjoyed a 7.8 percent boost in output in Q2 2025 compared with one year earlier, and output rose by 1.1 percent compared with the previous quarter.
Struggling to retain high output are stainless mills in Europe, with output falling there in this year’s second quarter by 5.1 percent compared with one year earlier. Europe’s stainless producers also made 4.1 percent less metal in Q2 2025 compared with the previous three months.
A slowdown in mill activity in Asia beyond China is a more recent phenomenon, potentially reflecting the negative consequences of the recent boom in Chinese mill production.
Output in those nations, which includes South Korea, India and Indonesia, fell by 2.2 percent in the most recently completed quarter compared with January through March of this year. Year-on-year output in the region grew by 4.1 percent.
Globally in the first half of this year, stainless steel output has risen by 4.9 percent compared with production in the first half of 2024, according to WorldStainless.