Eurofer: EU steel market is sluggish presently

Published: 23 Oct 2009 01:31:12 PST

October 23 MetalBiz--Eurofer forecasted that EU steel industry is still weak presently, and it will not recover until Q2 of 2010.

According to a market forecast report from Eurofer on October 22, EU steel market wouldn't rebound so quickly, though it presented signs for revival in Q3.

The aforesaid report showed that steel demand fell 45% in H1 over the same period last year, and the margin of decrease approached 32% in Q3.

Eurofer estimates that the weighted index of EU steel output will grow 1% in Q2, following the fall of 0.4% in Q1. The growth will reach 0.9% in the whole year of 2010 and surge to 4% in 2011. For 2009, Eurofer expects that it will decline 18.2%.