EU-28 apparent steel consumption fell by 2.5 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of the current year to 42.6 million mt, according to the Economic and Steel Market Outlook 2019-2020/Q3 2019 Report from the Economic Committee of the European Steel Association (EUROFER).
According to EUROFER, the negative trend in steel demand at the start of this year has primarily hurt domestic steel producers in the EU. In the first quarter of 2019, domestic deliveries from EU mills to the EU market fell by four percent compared with the same period of 2018. Meanwhile, third country imports decreased only by one percent year on year to 10 million mt, accounting for 23.6 percent of EU steel demand.
EUROFER said that the EU steel market is facing severe challenges which are expected to have a negative impact on apparent steel consumption. The EU’s apparent steel consumption is expected to fall by 0.6 percent in 2019, before rising by 1.3 percent in 2020, thanks to a mild increase in final steel use.