Russia's stainless steel consumption and output decline in the first half of 2025

According to data from the Russian Special Steel and Alloy Consumer and Suppliers Association (USSA), the actual consumption of Russian stainless steel in the first quarter of 2025 was 157,600 tons, a year-on-year decrease of 0.7%. Among them, the consumption of cold-rolled sheets decreased by 1% year-on-year, and the decline in seamless steel pipes was the most significant, reaching 21.7%; however, the consumption of hot-rolled sheets, welded pipes and small steel billets achieved growth, with year-on-year growth of 1.9%, 4.9% and 47.1% respectively.

It is worth noting that despite the slight decline in consumption, Russia's stainless steel imports in the first quarter still increased by 0.3% year-on-year to 120,000 tons; export volume increased more significantly, soaring by 69.1% year-on-year to 3,430 tons.

In terms of output, it fell slightly, with production in the first quarter reaching 41,000 tons, a year-on-year decrease of 0.2%. In terms of import dependence, the proportion of foreign products in Russia's apparent total consumption of stainless steel in the first quarter increased from 75.3% in the same period last year to 76.1%, while the proportion of domestic products dropped from 24.7% to 23.9%.

By category, cold-rolled sheets have the highest dependence on imports, with foreign products accounting for 96.2% (97.8% in the first quarter of 2024); the proportion of imported products of wire, hot-rolled sheets, seamless steel pipes and welded pipes was 82.5% (77% in the same period last year), 80.5% (77.3% in the same period last year), 63.2% (74.2% in the same period last year) and 56.2% (46.7% in the same period last year).

In June 2025, the country's stainless steel production was 20,100 tons, a month-on-month decrease of 12.6% and a year-on-year decrease of 11.2%; the cumulative output from January to June was 134,000 tons, a year-on-year decrease of 10.4%.