Global steel demand expected to recover in 2024: Report

By Tuba Ongun

Global steel demand is projected to grow by 1.7% at an annualized pace to 1.79 billion tons in 2024, following two years of decline, according to a report released by World Steel Association (worldsteel) on Wednesday.

The demand is forecast to rise by 1.2% year-on-year to 1.82 billion tons in 2025, according to the association's Short-Range Outlook.

Martin Theuringer, chairman of the worldsteel Economics Committee, said: "After two years of negative growth and severe market volatility since the COVID crisis in 2020, we see early signs of global steel demand settling in a growth trajectory in 2024 and 2025."

Theuringer stressed that global steel demand growth is expected to remain weak and market volatility to remain high due lagged impact of monetary tightening of major central banks, high costs and high geopolitical uncertainties.

China's steel demand in 2024 is foreseen to remain stable compared to a year earlier, as real estate investments continue to decline. In 2025, the figure will return to a downtrend with a 1% drop, the worldsteel forecast showed.

The projections for the world excluding China suggest a 3.5% growth per annum over 2024-25.

Steel demand in India will continue to post strong growth of 8% over 2024 and 2025, driven by an upward trend in all steel-using sectors and especially by continued strong growth in infrastructure investments, the report said.