EU apparent steel consumption growth to slow: Eurofer

[BRUSSELS] The EU steel market will improve further over the coming two years, but the growth of consumption will be more muted than in 2015, European steel association Eurofer said on Wednesday.

The group sees apparent steel consumption, which includes changes to inventories, rising by 1.1 per cent in 2016 and by 1.7 per cent in 2017 after 2.3 per cent growth last year. Prospects, it said, were "mildly positive".

Eurofer sees investment replacing private consumption as the prime growth driver in the EU economy, with faster growth of real consumption. However, heavy destocking at the end of last year and the start of 2016 would limit the rise.

Eurofer said in a statement that the key uncertainty for EU steel mills is import pressure as a result of overproduction in certain regions.

REUTERS