In the first quarter of the current year, EU steel tube output decreased by 0.1 percent compared to the same period of the previous year, according to the Economic and Steel Market Outlook 2018-2019/Q3 2018 Report from the Economic Committee of the European Steel Association (EUROFER). Output growth came to a standstill owing to the temporary demand from large pipeline projects, which had supported the order book of EU manufacturers in 2017, drying up. Total EU steel tube output is estimated to have fallen by 2.2 percent year on year in the second quarter of this year.
The EUROFER report stated that in the absence of the demand boost from the international pipeline market, production activity in the EU steel tube sector depends, currently, more strongly on demand fundamentals in the other steel tube market segments.
In 2018 and 2019, steel tube production activity in the EU is forecast to increase only very slightly. Accordingly, production in the EU steel tube sector is forecast to grow by 0.7 percent in 2018 and by 0.5 percent in 2019.