According to the Economic and Steel Market Outlook 2022-2023/Q4 2022 Report from the Economic Committee of the European Steel Association (EUROFER), in the second quarter this year output of the EU steel tube industry increased by 3.1 percent year on year, despite war-related disruptions and continued supply chain issues.
According to the EUROFER report, the war-related disruptions have delayed ongoing projects and impacted the availability of materials. In the longer term, demand for large welded tubes from the oil and gas industry is not predicted to improve substantially, despite the recent hikes in energy prices.
The recent recovery of global oil demand is not expected to boost the launch of new pipelines in the short term. On the other hand, demand from the construction sector is set to recover a bit more robustly, whereas tube demand from the automotive and engineering sectors is forecast to remain relatively weaker. In addition, import pressure on steel tube markets in the EU will remain high, particularly for the commodity segment.
EUROFER stated that it expects steel tube output in the EU to grow by 1.9 percent in 2022, followed by a 0.4 percent fall in 2023. In the previous report, the steel output in the EU was expected to grow by three percent in 2022 and rise by 2.7 percent in 2023.