Russia's stainless steel consumption increased by 5.8% to 499.2 million tons in 2018, according to a recent report from the Russian Special Steel Association. Among them, consumption of stainless steel cold-rolled coils increased by 9.8%, hot-rolled products by 2.0%, bars by 6.7%, seamless tubes by 22.3%, and slabs by 36.7%. Consumption of welded pipe, billet and wire decreased by 4.2%, 24.5% and 4.6%, respectively.
Russia's domestic stainless steel production grew by 2.1%, exports by 18% and imports by 7.2%. Russia imports 77% of its stainless steel consumption. The import volume is about 393,300 tons.
