The global stainless steel producer, Outokumpu, has reported that the global demand for the metal has shown signs of improvement so far this year when compared with the lows recorded during the end of last year.
According to Outokumpu, the order intake in the Europe, Middle East and African region has seen improvements on the back of strong underlying demand. The market condition in the Americas looks ‘promising’, although new orders continue to remain subdued for the moment, mainly due to uncertainty in nickel prices.
The global stainless steel demand climbed higher by 5.5 percent during 2014. The consumption in the Americas and Europe witnessed a rise of 4.7 percent and 3.8 percent respectively. The technical ramp-up at US Calvert mill along with the strategic partnership with Mexican cold rolling mill helped the company to lift its market share from 15 percent in 2013 to 18 percent last year.
Meanwhile, the global steel deliveries by the company during the entire year 2014 dropped slightly from 2.585 million tonnes in 2013 to 2.554 million tonnes in 2014.