Commodities | Feb 15 2008
By Chris Shaw
On the back of continued strong demand steel industry consultant MEPS is forecasting a 5.7% increase in global steel output in 2008 to 1,420 million tonnes, with blast furnace iron to make up most of the output and to top 1,000 million tonnes for the year.
Strongest growth in production will come from China as MEPS anticipates output for the year of 533 million tonnes, up from 489 million tonnes in 2007. While Japan will show relatively flat output of around 120 million tonnes the rest of Asia is expected to generate an increase from 2007’s 144.9 million tonnes to just under 153 million tonnes in 2008.
The Former USSR countries are also expected to record a solid boost in production, with the group forecasting output to increase from last year’s 124.4 million tonnes to a little over 131 million tonnes this year.
The EU is expected to show an increase to 215 million tonnes from 210 million tonnes last year, MEPS suggesting the modest increase will be a reflection of continued solid demand in the region. Other Europe should also be stronger on the back of strong demand from Turkey in particular, the group forecasting total output rising to 33.4 million tonnes against 30.5 million tonnes previously.
The weak US dollar is limiting imports in the North American region and this should help boost production slightly, MEPS expecting output of 134.8 million tonnes against last year’s 132.8 million tonnes.
Slight gains are expected in Australia and the Oceania region generally, MEPS forecasting total production of 9.0 million tonnes, up from last year’s 8.8 million tonnes.