Economic And Steel Market Review And Short Range Outlook

摘要

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region went through turbulent economic and political changes last year that stalled its growth and increased the level of uncertainty with regard to the future outlook of its markets. The steel industry, being the locomotive of the development drive in the region, is still reeling from the effects of what is called the "Arab Spring" as affected countries suffered from significant market shrinkages. The key questions now raised are: what is the extent of regional economic and steel markets slowdown? How long will it take for markets to recover? And what is the short range outlook, both for the regional economy and steel consumption? The following analysis is an attempt to answer these questions and shed lights on the dichotomy between oil exporters and non-oil exporters.