The recent collapse of some far eastern economies and the knock-on effect for the rest of the world brings home the reality of a global economy. Bill Good takes a view on the future for stainless steel against a background of global production and supply. Increases in world steel consumption in the last 20 years have largely corresponded to increases in demand by the developing markets in Latin America, China and, until recently, the rest of Asia. In the case of stainless steel, in China demand has increased about 25% per year since 1991. In Europe, consumption of stainless steel shows an annual growth of about 5%, expressed in volume. This compares favourably with the growth in consumption of conventional steels which is generally lower than the GDP index and reflects a trend in market demand for products with longer life and higher performance standards.
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