Global stainless steel companies posted their strong financial performance in spite of a volatile steel market this year. Many market participants are still cautiously optimistic about the outlook for 2023 although economic activities slowed down in the second half of this year. However, geopolitical and economic issues remained risks for the steel industry.

At the end of this year, stainless steel prices stood at a relatively high level compared to the pre-epidemic prices across regions of the world. Due to the higher costs of raw materials, such as molybdenum, nickel, and ferrous scrap, the transaction prices and alloy surcharges in some countries hiked obviously accordingly.