FERROUS
77recyclinginternational.com | July/August | 2022
some of the largest plants, Zaporizhstal,
ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih and others,
restarted operations in June.
DECLINE FORECAST
The war, soaring energy prices and sup-
ply chain disruption could result in a
1.9% contraction in EU steel consump-
tion this year, the European Steel
Association (Eurofer) is warning –
although it expects a 5.1% growth in
2023. The latest outlook from the
organisation, which represents all steel
producers in the EU, says the steel mar-
ket for 2022 and 2023 remains subject
to a high level of uncertainty, which is
likely to continue to undermine demand
from steel-using sectors. It follows the
outlook for global steel production from
the World Steel Association, reported in
the previous issue, which expects only
0.4% growth this year and 2.2% in 2023.
Axel Eggert, Eurofer dg, adds: ‘In the
A U T H O R Robin Latchem
current context, amidst a worsening
energy crisis and shortages in raw mate-
rials, we cannot exclude a new reces-
sion or a stagflation scenario’.
Steel consumption strongly rebounded
in 2021 (up 15.2%), after the deep
slump of 10.7% in 2020 caused by the
pandemic. However, the trend is
expected to reverse in 2022 with a
milder recession (consumption down
1.9%) followed by recovery in 2023 (up
5.1%).
‘High uncertainty is set to last at least
until the end of 2022, subject to devel-
opments around of Russia’s invasion of
Ukraine – which as of now remain
unpredictable – and its consequences
on global supply chains.’
STEEL DATA
World Steel Association (worldsteel)
reports world crude steel production in
May 2022 was 169.5 million tonnes
(Mt), a 3.5% decrease on May 2021.
This decline reflected weaker produc-
tion in China (-3.5%), Germany (-11.5%),
the United States (-2.6%) and Turkey
(-1.4%) – more than offsetting a 17.3%
increase in Indian production.
For the year-to-date, worldsteel reports
global production was down 6.3% com-
pared to Jan-May 2021 to 791.8 Mt.
In April, the 64 countries reporting to
worldsteel said the monthly total was
162.7 Mt, a 5.1% decrease compared to
April 2021, again largely reflecting
China’s downward performance.
Meanwhile, Eurostat data in May
showed that ferrous metals accounts for
half of all scrap exports from the EU. In
2021, exports of ferrous metals waste
(iron and steel) amounted to 19.5 mil-
lion tonnes, accounting for more than
half (59%) of all waste exports from the
EU. The main destination was Turkey
which received 13.1 million tonnes,
76-77-78-79_ma-ferrous.indd 77 05-07-2022 13:42
