Global steel demand will grow 5.8 percent to 1.874 billion tons in 2021after falling 0.2 percent in 2020. the World Steel Association (WSA) said in its latest short-term steel demand forecast for 2021-2022 released on April 15.In 2022, global steel demand will continue to grow by 2.7 percent to reach 1.925 billion tons.The report believes that the ongoing second or third wave of the epidemic will flatten out in the second quarter of this year. With the steady progress of vaccination, economic activities in major steel-consuming countries will gradually return to normal.

Commenting on the forecast, Alremeithi, chairman of the WFA’s Market Research Committee, said: “Despite the devastating impact of COVID-19 on lives and livelihoods, the global steel industry has been fortunate to see only a small contraction in global steel demand by the end of 2020.That was largely thanks to China’s surprisingly strong recovery, which pushed steel demand there up 9.1 per cent compared with a 10.0 per cent contraction in the rest of the world.Steel demand is set to recover steadily in the coming years in both developed and developing economies, supported by pent-up steel demand and government recovery plans.For some of the most advanced economies, however, it will take years to recover to pre-epidemic levels.

While we hope that the worst of the epidemic may soon be over, considerable uncertainty remains for the remainder of 2021.The mutation of the virus and the push for vaccination, the withdrawal of stimulative fiscal and monetary policies, and geopolitical and trade tensions are all likely to affect the outcome of this forecast.

In the post-epidemic era, structural changes in the future world will bring about changes in the pattern of steel demand.Rapid development due to digitisation and automation, infrastructure investment, reconfiguration of urban centres and the energy transition will present exciting opportunities for the steel industry.At the same time, the steel industry is also actively responding to the social demand for low-carbon steel.”