According to the Economic and Steel Market Outlook 2021-2022/Q4 2021 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 3.4 percent quarter on quarter and by 30.7 percent year on year. After a series of six quarter-on-quarter decreases in a row, the negative trend started to reverse in the first quarter this year.
According to the EUROFER report, demand for large welded tubes from the oil and gas industry is predicted to improve, due to better prospects for oil and gas demand. The recent recovery of global oil demand is expected to produce some positive effects on output from the third quarter of 2021. Demand from the construction sector is set to recover. On the contrary, tube demand from the automotive and engineering industries is forecast to remain less strong, even if they restore their production activity to high historical levels and critical supply chain disruptions are ultimately resolved. In addition, import pressure on steel tube markets in the EU will remain high, particularly for the commodity segment. In any case, the recovery of the tube sector’s output is anticipated to continue in every quarter during 2021.
EUROFER stated that it expects steel tube output in the EU to rebound by 12.5 percent in 2021, followed by a 2.3 percent rise in 2022, compared to 9.8 percent and 4.6 percent respectively in the previous forecast.