The World Steel Association has downgraded its previous short-range outlook for apparent steel usage on the back of the slowdown in the Chinese market as well as in South America and CIS, the association said.

At its annual meeting in Moscow, Russia, the association pointed out that the consumption globally will grow only one per cent year-on-year to 1,562 million mt this year and another two per cent YOY next year, following the recovery of 3.8 per cent seen last year.

The association, however, said in its forecast issued in April that it expected use to grow 3.1 per cent this year and 3.3 per cent next year.

Meanwhile, China’s steel use is expected to grow only one per cent YOY this year, while for 2015 the growth slowdown will continue with an expected increase of 0.8 per cent YOY, it said.

This year the CIS region as well as Central and South America will see a decrease in steel use by 3.8 per cent YOY and 2.4 per cent YOY respectively.

While the Latin American region is currently affected by the negative growth of a number of domestic markets, the CIS remains impacted by the geopolitical situation, with a rebound unlikely to happen soon, the association said.

The outlook for the European Union has improved significantly as steel consumption there is now expected to grow by four per cent YOY this year and a further 2.9 per cent next year.

A strong rebound is also expected for North America where steel demand is expected to grow 6.4 per cent YOY this year and 2.2 per cent YOY next year.

This recovery is set to be mainly driven by the recovery of steel use in the US reaching 6.7 per cent this year to 102 million mt, helped by strong in the automotive and energy sectors.

The forecast rebound of EU, US and Japan's apparent steel use will not be strong enough to offset the slowdown in the emerging economies, the association added. - TradeArabia News Service