East and Southeast Asia to drive recovery in steel demand

According to Worldsteel's latest short-term forecast, global steel demand will start to recover in 2023 after falling 3.2% in 2022. East and Southeast Asia will provide the bulk of demand growth in 2023, offsetting weakness in Europe and the US.

China's steel demand is expected to grow by 2% to 939.3 million tonnes in 2023 and then remain flat in 2024. This follows a 3.2% drop in demand in 2022. but the sector's fundamentals remain very weak. At the same time, infrastructure investment is shifting to less metal-intensive projects.

Japan and South Korea are expected to recover from a weak 2022, although demand in Korea will remain weak compared to 2021. Japan is expected to grow by 4% this year to 57.2 million tonnes and then by 1.2% in 2024. 4.2% drop in demand in 2022. However, South Korea is only expected to grow by 2.9% this year to 52.7 Mt and 2% in 2024. Demand in Korea fell by 8.6% in 2022. economy, notes worldsteel.

Meanwhile, strong growth in demand for structural steel will continue in ASEAN countries. A weak global economy, reduced tourism and higher interest rates hit the region, with steel demand falling 0.3% in 2022. height. In 2023, worldsteel expects steel demand in Asia to grow by 6.2% to 77.1 million tons, and in 2024 it could grow by another 5.7%.
Overall, Worldsteel expects steel demand to increase in 2023 from 40.8 million tons to 1.8223 billion tons. Of this increase, 18.4 million tons came from China, 4.5 million tons from ASEAN, 2.2 million tons from Japan, and 1.5 million tons from Korea.