According to the short range outlook of the World Steel Association (worldsteel), the situation regarding Crimea raises a high downside risk for its outlook for the CIS region. Apparent steel use in the CIS region is projected to grow by only 1.1 percent, reaching 59.5 million mt in 2014 due to slow investment, but will grow by 3.7 percent in 2015 with Russian steel demand accelerating to 4.4 percent growth.
Steel demand in Ukraine will continue to contract in 2014 but the fall will be limited to three percent to 5.4 million mt due to financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund.