In Q1 of the current year, new steel orders booked by European industry surged by 19 percent year on year, resulting in very satisfactory activity in steel distribution in EU-27 countries, according to the latest report published by the association of European steel and metals distributors EUROMETAL.
EU-27 sales of flat steel products by European Steel Stockholding Distribution (DISMET) accelerated strongly in the first quarter, reaching a growth rate of 15 percent year on year. Flat Steel Service Centres (EASSC) did even better and increased their EU-27 sales by 18 percent year on year during the first three months.
On the other hand, European construction output registered zero growth during Q1 2011, hindering the long product sales of DISMET. EU-27 long products sales of DISMET recovered only moderately by nine percent year on year in the first quarter, lagging behind the strong growth rates of its flat product sales.
At end of March this year, steel product stocks of DISMET were on the low side, sufficient for less than 60 sales days.