The World Steel Association (worldsteel) today released its Short Range Outlook (SRO) for 2022 and 2023. worldsteel forecasts that steel demand will grow by 0.4% in 2022 to reach 1,840.2 Mt after increasing by 2.7% in 2021. In 2023 steel demand will see further growth of 2.2% to reach 1,881.4 Mt. The current forecast is subject to high uncertainty.

 

Steel using sectors

Global construction activity continued to recover from the lockdowns to record growth of 3.4% despite a contraction in China in 2021. The recovery was driven by an infrastructure push as part of recovery programmes in many countries, and these and investments related to the energy transition will likely drive the construction sector’s growth for years to come. However, the construction sector faces some headwinds from rising costs and interest rates.

 

The recovery of the global auto industry in 2021 was disappointing as the supply chain bottlenecks arrested the recovery momentum in the second half of the year. The war in Ukraine is likely to delay any return to normal of the supply chain issues, especially in Europe. Despite the slump in global auto production, the EV segment grew exponentially during the pandemic. Global sales of EVs in 2021 reached 6.6 million units, almost doubling from 2020. The share of EVs in total car sales increased from 2.49% in 2019 to 8.57% in 2021. (worldsteel)