European Steel Outlook

摘要

According to the European Commission's most recent autumn forecast, economic growth in the European Union is expected to remain low in 2014 at 1.3%, before picking up to 1.5% in 2015. The European Steel Association (Eurofer) is forecasting that growth in EU apparent steel consumption (ASC) over the same period will be similarly sluggish. After growth of 4.4% year-on-year in the 2q14, ASC within the EU is expected to have grown by 1.0% in the 3q14 and to contract by 2.4% in the 4q14. This drop off is, in part, ascribed to seasonal shifts in consumption, and also to growth in the 2h13 that limits the scope for further increases. This weaker trend is expected to continue into the 1q15 before demand picks up from the 2q15.