World iron and Steel Association: global demand is almost stagnant this year

On October 14 local time, the World Steel Association (WSA) released a short-term outlook (SRO) report, which predicted that global steel demand will almost stagnate this year, except for China, and warned of downside risks in the future. The screenshot of report is the same as that of WSA. It is predicted that China's demand will grow by 7.8% this year, basically the same as that of 2018, but the growth rate will drop to 1% next year, still higher than that in April. At that time, wsa predicted that China's steel demand would shrink slightly in 2020 as the effect of economic stimulus measures subsided. In addition to China, the association predicts that the demand for finished steel in other regions will only increase by 0.2% this year, lower than the previously estimated 1.7%; the growth rate of global demand is expected to slow down to 3.9% this year from 4.6% in 2018. According to Hong Kong's Xinbao, steel companies are facing falling demand and prices this year as global manufacturing is weak and trade conflicts are protracted. Among them, European steel enterprises are the most seriously affected. European steel enterprises accuse the US of imposing tariff measures that cause low-cost steel to flow into the European region, causing the local steel industry to fall into crisis.