On July 25, ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steel producer, said that it expects global apparent steel consumption to increase by between 3.5-4 percent in 2012 as compared to 2011, based on the assumption of a technical recession in Europe but low GDP growth elsewhere.
Under this scenario, ArcelorMittal expects apparent steel demand to decline in Europe by about three to five percent this year, but to grow in all other regions, including a 4.5-5 percent growth expectation for China and a 7-8 percent growth anticipation for the NAFTA region. While apparent steel demand in the rest of the world, apart from Europe, China and the NAFTA region, is foreseen to increase by 3.5-4 percent in 2012.