Posted on 31 Oct 2025
China's crude stainless steel output maintained the uptrend during January-September, with the total tonnage rising by 1.39 million tonnes or 4.8% on year to reach 30.46 million tonnes, according to the latest data released by the Stainless Steel Council of China Iron and Steel Association (CSSC).
Production of all series stainless steel posted on-year rises during the first three quarters, with the output of 300-series stainless seeing the sharpest on-year growth of 6.3%, the CSSC data showed.
China's H1 crude stainless steel output (Unit: million tonnes)
Product | Jan-Sept | YoY (%) | Share of total |
200-series | 8.91 | 4.53% | 29.25% |
300-series | 15.62 | 6.27% | 51.28% |
400-series | 5.58 | 0.62% | 18.33% |
Source: CSSC
Over January-September, China produced 348,329 tonnes of high-end duplex stainless, up by a marked 44,698 tonnes or 14.7% from the same period of last year, according to the association's data.
In foreign trade, China exported 3.78 million tonnes of stainless steel products over January-September, rising slightly by 60,900 tonnes or 1.6% on year, while its total import volume of stainless steel slumped by 308,900 tonnes or 21.4% on year to 1.14 million tonnes, according to CSSC.
The statistics showed that China's stainless steel demand stayed resilient during the first nine months, with the apparent consumption of stainless steel reaching 24.91 million tonnes, rising by 905,900 tonnes or 3.8% on year, but the growth was lower compared to that of crude stainless steel output.
As such, China's stainless steel prices hovered low since the start of this year given the overall mismatch between stainless supply and demand, Mysteel Global noted.
By the end of September, the spot price of 304/2B Hongwang 2*1240mm stainless cold-rolled coil in Wuxi in East China's Jiangsu province under Mysteel's assessment came in at Yuan 13,050/tonne ($1,839/t) in-warehouse and including the 13% VAT, still a low level though it was Yuan 50/t higher compared with the end of last year.
Source:Mysteel Global
