European steel association Eurofer forecasts a modest recovery in apparent steel consumption in 2020, with risks relating to import volumes, Eurofer said on January 30.
"2019 was another challenging year for the steel sector, with declines in steel consumption and import levels, which - while down compared to 2018 - were still very high compared to historical levels," director general of Eurofer, Axel Eggert, said.No significant rebound is expected before the second quarter of 2020, Eurofer said. EU apparent steel consumption fell by 3.1% year on year to 37.2 million in the third quarter of 2019. The stock cycle continued to be negative that quarter, which further affected the negative trend in final steel use. In fact, ongoing uncertainty about near-term business conditions as well as relatively high stock levels at the end of the first quarter of 2019...