According to a recent report by the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC), in 2015, the global output of stainless steel in 2015 will rise by two percent year-on-year and will rise even further by 4.1 percent in 2016.
HSBC pointed out that China would become the main engine of supply growth in the global stainless steel market. The report also forecasted that during the 2013-2018 period, the global stainless steel demand’s compound annual growth rate would reach 4.6 percent, which would support the nickel demand. Meanwhile, China and America’s stainless steel demand is going to grow robustly, and the compound annual growth rate could reach 6.6 percent and 6.3 percent respectively.
The increasing world stainless steel production will well shore up ferrochrome demand. However, HSBC forecasted that ferrochrome price would remain depressed, owing to the oversupply, and ferrochrome price would drop by USD 1.12 per pound in 2015, and drop by USD 1.18 per pound in 2016.