Iron ore price, page-21909

Excerpt from a much longer report on the current situation re global steel demand:

China

Coming out of the lockdown ahead of other countries, China’s economic recovery started in late February. Its economy is fast approaching normalisation, except for the hospitality and tourism sectors. The deep freeze in economic activity during February resulted in a decline of 6.8% in GDP and 16.1% in fixed asset investment in the first quarter. Industrial production fell by 8.4%, with the automotive sector showing the worst decline of 44.6% in the first quarter.

By the end of April, all major steel-using sectors were back to near full productivity, even though the full operation of the manufacturing sector is hindered by the collapse in export demand. Following the lifting of the lockdown in Wuhan on 8th April, the construction sector has already reached 100% productivity.

The recovery of steel demand will be more visible in the second half of 2020. It will be driven by construction, especially infrastructure investment, as the government has put forward several new infrastructure initiatives. Recovery in manufacturing will be slower due to a severe recession in the global economy, but the automotive industry will get some support from incentive measures.

We expect Chinese steel demand to increase by 1.0% in 2020. We also expect that the benefit from infrastructure projects initiated in 2020 will carry over and support steel demand in 2021. A substantial stimulus programme as seen in 2009 is not expected as this might work against the government’s desire to continue rebalancing the economy. However, if the global economic environment affects the recovery of the Chinese economy more profoundly, the government might need to provide a further boost to the economy, implying an upside risk to steel demand.

https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/world-steel-association-steel-demand-to-contract-by-6-4/