Taiwan's Stainless Steel Exports Face Pressure Amid Rising Regional Price War

According to Taiwanese media reports on November 1, 2025, a new round of price competition has emerged in the Asia-Pacific stainless steel export market. Leveraging its significant cost advantage, Chinese mainland-produced bonded stainless steel is becoming an important pricing benchmark in the regional market, while Southeast Asia's continued low-price strategy is significantly squeezing export orders from Taiwan.

Entering the fourth quarter, while stainless steel export inquiries are gradually recovering, overall order volume is limited, and price competition is intensifying. Market feedback indicates that demand in Japan and South Korea is currently weak, and Taiwan's sales are not ideal due to longer delivery times and insufficient price competitiveness.

Notably, Southeast Asian resources have become the main driver of this round of price declines. Steel mills in Indonesia and Vietnam have continued to lower their prices. However, industry sources indicate that the price of Chinese mainland 304/2B bonded stainless steel remains lower than that in Southeast Asia. Although this has not been officially confirmed, this price difference further strengthens the pricing influence of mainland products.

Competition is equally fierce in the Indian market. Due to factors such as the abundant bonded stainless steel resources from Indonesia in mainland China and the active shift of Vietnamese cold-rolled steel to sales in India, steel mills in Taiwan, despite having the advantage of BIS certification extensions, are finding it difficult to secure significant orders.