Real steel consumption in the European Union is forecast to decline almost 4.5 percent in 2013, according to the Economic and Steel Market Outlook 2013-2014/Q3 2013 Report from the Economic Committee of the European Steel Association (EUROFER).
In the first quarter of 2013, real consumption of steel in the EU fell 7.6 percent compared to the corresponding period of the previous year, reflecting a stronger than usual seasonal slowdown in end-user activity. Key steel using sectors such as construction, the automotive industry and the mechanical engineering and steel tube sector registered the weakest level of output in the last three years, with construction sector output falling to the lowest levels since 2000.
According to EUROFER, the outlook for 2014 signals that activity in the steel using sectors should improve slowly but steadily during the year. EUROFER forecasts a slight growth of 0.5 percent in real steel consumption in 2014.