Global long steel consumption was expected to reach 851 million tonnes in 2019, up by 2.4% year-on-year although mounting political uncertainties such as trade wars and the UK's intended exit from the EU may soften this growth, according to steelmaker Celsa.
"A strong performance in construction activity in China, India and the rest of Asia will give support to long products consumption, specifically rebar and merchant bar, compensating for the slowdown in North America, Western Europe and Turkey," according to Kim Marti Subirana.Subirana is commercial director of Celsa Group. He was speaking at the 81st meeting of the International Rebar Exporters & Producers Association (Irepas), held in Dusseldorf on September 22-24."The expansion of construction in advanced economies will be fairly sluggish in 2019, with growth in North America slowing to 1.2% and in Western Europe there will be deceleration at 2.2%," Subirana added.In the first half of 2019, combined global long steel products consumption increased by 10% year-on-year, reaching 444...