The US steel market will not see significant changes for the rest of this year, and it is too early to speak about predictions next year due to political uncertainty, said Nucor Chairman and CEO John Ferriola.
“The rest of this year will be pretty stable,” he said during an interview before the General Assembly of the World Steel Association. “Next year, it will be a really bad year.”
The 2020 presidential election brought political uncertainty.
"So I don't know how it will end next year," Ferriola said.
The outgoing Nucor CEO, who announced his departure on December 31, said he feels good about the overall long-term aspects of US steel demand.
"Manufacturing is returning to the US," he said. “What worries me most is that we have what I call a media downturn ... we're talking about bad news.”
Ferriola said that from Nucor's perspective, “prices have come down, but demand is good.”
S&P Global Platts price estimates for US-made hot rolled steel coils were $ 505 per tonne EXW on Friday, nearly $ 100 below their recent high of $ 600.50 on Aug. 15.
The World Steel Association's short-term forecast for 2020 foresees a 0.8% rise in demand for finished steel in North America to 142.6 million tonnes, up from a 2019 projection of 141.5 million tonnes.
