The current forecasts for 2010 show overall activity in the European Union steel using industries rising by 1.1 percent, and acceleration to 4.1 percent growth in 2011, according to the Economic and Steel Market Outlook 2010-2011/Q2 2010 Report from EUROFER's Economic Committee, released by the European Confederation of Iron and Steel Industries (EUROFER).
The year-on-year drop in activity of the European Union steel using sectors slowed down towards the end of 2009. Output fell 12.1 percent year on year in the last quarter of 2009, reducing the fall in activity in the whole of 2009 to 19.9 percent.
Production in the first quarter of 2010 was heavily influenced by the severe winter conditions. While this had a negative impact on the
construction sector and its suppliers, it was offset by an improving business situation in other sectors such as
automotive and metal goods. Key drivers for this recovery have been the marked pickup in international trade and easing drag from the inventory cycle. As a result, output stabilized slightly above the already sharply weakened level for the same period of the previous year, generating the first year-on-year rise in output since mid-2008.
This trend is expected to be sustained over the coming quarters. Industrial confidence continued to improve in the first quarter of this year. Most steel using sectors are expected to show positive year-on-year growth again from the second quarter of 2010 onwards. The key exception will be the
construction industry, for which the outlook has deteriorated in recent months.