Stainless steel industry is likely to enjoy a less turbulent 2008

 Stainless Steel 430 After experiencing a volatile 2007, the stainless steel industry islikely to enjoy a less turbulent 2008, according to industryanalyst Markus Moll of SMR in Austria. Giving a presentation at the Bureau of International Recycling(BIR) Stainless Steel & Special Alloys session entitled MostlySunny with Local Showers, Moll remarked that the 2007 inventoryde-stocking that caused the turbulence last year is now over. 2008 should be a year of growth for most producers of stainlesssteel, according to Moll, who also projects steady growth instainless steel production through 2012. Producers in the UnitedStates are in a good position to export right now because of theweak dollar and investments in efficient mill technology, hecommented The high cost of nickel has caused considerable exploration andsome shifting to 200 series and 400 series products and away from300 series grades. But Moll remarked that this trend may havepeaked. The cost advantages of 201 or 430 production aredecreasing as chromium prices increase,he said, predicting a renaissance  for 304 stainless. He noted that different participants in the supply chain, rangingfrom steel service centers to scrap yards to melt shops, have alsodiscovered hidden costs in trying to adopt new processes or findadditional storage space for 200 and 400 series metals andfeedstocks for such metals. Moll remarked that despite some local showers (such as less thanstellar economies in the United States and Japan), the outlook forstainless steel is mostly sunny for the rest of 2008. In regional reports, Michael Wright of the ELG Metals office inSheffield, United Kingdom, referred to the first five months of2008 as stable, building on the fourth quarter of 2007 when themarket recovered from its mid-year collapse. Barry Hunter of Hunter Metals in the United States said logisticsand shipping problems are on the minds of American recyclers, ascontainers remain difficult to procure. There has subsequently beenless stainless scrap buying from Asian mills, even in the WesternU.S. where stainless scrap typically flows to Taiwan and China. Ahmad Al Sharif of the Amman, Jordan, office of Sharif Metals,remarked that the active petroleum industry in the Middle East aswell as a booming construction market are helping to generateconsiderable amounts of nickel-chrome tube scrap and other forms ofscrap.