The World Steel Assn. forecasts steel demand growing by 5.8% to 1.87 billion metric tons this year, after a slight decrease in 2020, with an automotive sector rebound among the leading factors.

APR 18, 2021

The World Steel Association forecasts that global steel demand will rise 5.8% this year to 1.87 billion metric tons, then a further 2.7% to 1.92 billion metric tons in 2022. Demand from automotive and construction sectors offer the best prospects for growth. These predictions follow a year of slightly declining (-0.2%) demand in 2020, with major consuming industries like automotive and construction beset by pandemic-related restrictions and supply-chain disruptions.

World Steel added that its new forecast assumes that second- or third-waves Covid-19 outbreaks will stabilize in Q2 2021, and that vaccinations will contribute to “a gradual return to normality in major steel-using countries.”

According to Saaed Al Remeithi, chairman of the World Steel Economics Committee, “the global steel industry was fortunate enough to end 2020 with only a minor contraction in steel demand. This was due to a surprisingly robust recovery in China, with growth of 9.1%. In the rest of the world steel demand contracted by 10.0%.”