During his presentation at AMM and WSD’s annual Steel Success Strategies conference in New York on June 17-19, Peter Marcus, founder and managing partner of World Steel Dynamics, stated that in the last few months, the trade war between the US and China fuelled by Trump has resulted in a global economic chill. He underlined that the sizeable decline in capital spending is a negative sign for the global economy and it is even worse for the steel industry as it is strongly tied to the capital spending cycle. However, despite the current weakening of steel prices, WSD expects a strong reversal by the first quarter of 2020, maybe sooner, and foresees “a global steel boom in which steel buyers are rushing to add to inventory”.
Mr. Marcus pointed out that Trump’s goal is to replace China as the leading country employing mercantilistic tactics. He added that WSD is optimistic about the steel industry looking ahead to 2025. By 2025, global steel production is expected to be almost flat at the current rate of 1.8 billion mt. Peter Marcus underlined that production is almost unchanged as rising steel demand outside of China offsets the slowing down of Chinese steel demand.