The European Steel Association (Eurofer) expects steel consumption to increase by 13.3pc to 152mn mt in 2021 as per its latest outlook.
In Q3 2020, Eurofer estimated apparent steel consumption at 32.8mn mt, down by 11.6pc from the prior-year period. However, it was an improvement over the 25pc decline in Q2 2020.
Eurofer says that there was a severe downturn in the EU’s steel usage in industrial sectors such as manufacturing and automobiles, which faced multiple COVID-19 related shutdowns, in 2020. In Q3 2020, many industries restarted production but steel consumption still lagged by 6.4pc over Q3 2019 levels.
For the full year 2020, Eurofer expects apparent steel consumption in the EU to have fallen by 13pc on an annual basis.