According to a report on the short-term outlook for 2016 and 2017 released by the World Steel Association (worldsteel), world steel consumption declined by 3.1 percent in 2015 and is expected to decrease by 0.8 percent to 1.48 billion mt in the current year, while in 2017 it is expected to increase by 0.5 percent to 1.49 billion mt, all on year-on-year basis.
In the report, worldsteel stated that the decline in investments and production in the manufacturing sector continues to affect the global steel industry negatively. In addition, excluding China, world steel consumption is expected to increase by 1.8 percent in the current year and rise by 3.1 percent in 2017, mainly due to increases in South Asia, Southeast Asia and the NAFTA region, according to worldsteel.
Meanwhile, no significant recovery is expected in China’s construction sector in the short term and China’s steel consumption is expected to fall by four percent in 2016 and by three percent in 2017, as stated in the report. With these decreases in consumption, in 2017 China’s steel consumption is anticipated to amount to 626 million mt, while its share in global steel consumption is expected to decline to 42 percent.
Worldsteel also stated that world steel consumption is also impacted by the decline in investments in the oil and gas sector.