The World Steel Association recently released the latest version of its short-term (2022-2023) steel demand forecast report. The report shows that global steel demand will decline by 2.3% to 1,796.7 million tonnes in 2022, following 2.8% growth in 2021, and will recover to grow by 1.0% to 1,814.7 million tonnes in 2023.

The current forecast is a downward revision of the one made in April, reflecting the impact of continued high global inflation and high interest rates. Despite the difficult economic performance in 2022 due to high inflation, monetary tightening and slowing economic growth in China, it is expected that infrastructure demand will perhaps marginally boost steel demand in 2023.

Editor: Lucy Yu