Worldsteel Forecasts Firm Recovery in Demand

The World Steel Association was cautiously optimistic in its April 2021 Short-Range Outlook published last week. The association expects steel demand to grow 5.8% this year, reaching 1.874 billion metric tons, after declining 0.2% during the pandemic in 2020.

“Despite the disastrous impact of the pandemic on lives and livelihoods, the global steel industry was fortunate enough to end 2020 with only a minor contraction in steel demand,” said Al Remeithi, chairman of the worldsteel Economics Committee. “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%. In the coming years, steel demand will recover firmly, both in the developed and developing economies, supported by pent-up demand and governments’ recovery programmes.”