Russkaya Stal (Russian Steel), a non-profit association of Russian domestic steelmakers, has stated that in 2015 domestic consumption of rolled steel products may fall to 40 million mt, down 11.5 percent compared to 2014. The economic situation in Russia keeps worsening under the influence of structural and external political factors. The volume of steel production in Russia is expected to decline to 69 million mt in 2015, from 71 million mt in 2014.
Steel consumption in Russian is expected to be negatively influenced by factors including the reduction of availability of loans and stiffening of conditions of mortgage issue, the reduction of demand from some final consumers, price rises for imported spare parts and as a consequence a significant price rise for products (especially in car and machine manufacturing segments).