The continued slowdown in production growth in the EU steel sectors resulted in only modest growth in real steel consumption of 0.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2018. Growth in real steel consumption slowed down noticeably in the third quarter and eventually stalled.
The final quarter of 2018 marks the end of a period of significant quarterly growth in steel end use in 2017 and the first half of 2018. Overall, total real consumption of steel in the EU increased by 2.3 percent in 2018.
Forecast of real steel consumption for 2019-2020
The weakened outlook for manufacturing activity growth in the EU steel sectors in the period 2019-2020 will inevitably lead to only very moderate growth in real steel consumption over this period. This situation is exacerbated by the fact that the intensity of steel production in the steel sectors in the EU is negative due to the fact that investments are increasingly focused on services, which limits the content of the material in its range.
Real steel consumption in the EU is projected to grow 0.2 percent in 2019 and 0.5 percent in 2020.
This will bring real steel consumption in Europe to 163 million tonnes in 2019 and 164 million tonnes in 2020. This means that the expected slowdown in the growth of real steel consumption will lead to the fact that the final use of steel in the EU market by the end of the year will rise to 1.3 million tons.
