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India’s consumption of finished steel products is expected to grow by 6.1 per cent in calendar year 2017 compared with 2016.
According to a forecast by the WorldSteel Association, India’s steel product demand is expected to reach 88.6 million tonne in 2017, from 83.5 million tonne in 2016. The association is more bullish on India’s steel demand in 2018 and projects a growth of 7.1 per cent to 94.9 million tonne.
Comparably, the growth in China is expected to remain flat in 2017 and the body estimated a 2 per cent slump in demand for 2018.
In the developed world, the report states, “Benefiting from strong fundamentals, newly announced measures related to fiscal stimuli and rising infrastructure spending, the US is expected to continue to lead growth in the developed world in 2017-18.”
WorldSteel estimates that steel demand in the US will grow by 3 per cent in 2017 to 94.3 million tonne and then by 2.9 per cent in 2018 to 97.1 million tonne.
In the developing world, WorldSteel states, “Having dealt with the structural problems and fall in commodity prices, the Russian and Brazilian economies are stabilising and expected to show modest growth in 2017.”
Russian growth will continue to pick up in 2018 as structural reforms take effect. After the demonetisation shock, the Indian economy is expected to resume growth, although on a slightly weakened basis. The ASEAN countries are expected to demonstrate solid growth in 2017-18.
However, the region remains vulnerable to currency volatilities associated with US interest rate hikes and dollar appreciation.
Steel demand in the emerging and developing economies excluding China, which accounts for 30 per cent of world total, is expected to grow by 4 per cent in 2017 and 4.9 per cent in 2018.
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