The World Steel Association released the latest version of the short-term (2021-2022) steel demand forecast report on April 15. The report shows that global steel demand will increase by 5.8% in 2021 to 1.874 billion after a 0.2% drop in 2020. Ton. In 2022, global steel demand will continue to grow by 2.7%, reaching 1.925 billion tons. The report believes that the ongoing second or third wave of the epidemic will flatten out in the second quarter of this year. With the steady progress of vaccination, economic activities in major steel-consuming countries will gradually return to normal.
Al Remeithi, Chairman of the World Steel Association’s Market Research Committee, commented on the results of this forecast: “Although the new crown epidemic has brought catastrophic effects on people’s lives and lives, the global steel industry is still lucky. By the end of 2020, the global steel industry Demand has only contracted slightly. This is mainly due to China’s surprisingly strong recovery, which has driven China’s steel demand growth by as much as 9.1%, while in other countries in the world, steel demand has shrunk by 10.0%. In the next few years, advanced economies and development The steel demand in the Chinese economies will recover steadily. The supporting factors are the suppressed steel demand and the government’s economic recovery plan. However, for some of the most developed economies, it is necessary to return to the level before the epidemic. A few years.
Although we hope that the most severe period of the epidemic will pass as soon as possible, there is still considerable uncertainty in the rest of 2021. The mutation of the virus and the advancement of vaccination, the withdrawal of stimulating fiscal and monetary policies, and the geopolitical and trade tensions may all affect the results of this forecast.
In the post-epidemic era, structural changes in the future world will bring about changes in the steel demand pattern. The rapid development brought about by digitalization and automation, infrastructure investment, urban center reconstruction, and energy transformation will bring exciting opportunities to the steel industry. At the same time, the steel industry is still actively responding to the society’s demand for low-carbon emission steel.
