The world iron and Steel Association released the latest short-term (2021-2022) steel demand forecast report on April 15. The report shows that the global steel demand will increase by 5.8% to 1.874 billion tons in 2021 after the decline of 0.2% in 2020. In 2022, global steel demand will continue to grow by 2.7% to 1.925 billion tons. According to the report, the second or third wave of the epidemic, which is still going on, will be leveled off in the second quarter of this year. With the steady progress of vaccination, the economic activities of major steel consuming countries will gradually return to normal.

AlRemeithi, chairman of the Market Research Committee of the world iron and Steel Association, commented on the forecast results: "although COVID-19 has brought disastrous effects on people's lives and lives, the global steel industry is still lucky. By the end of 2020, the global demand for steel had only contracted slightly. This is mainly due to the surprisingly strong recovery in China, which has driven the growth of steel demand in China as high as 9.1%, while in the rest of the world, steel demand has shrunk by 10.0%. In the next few years, the steel demand of developed and developing economies will recover steadily. The supporting factors are the restrained steel demand and the government's economic recovery plan. However, it will take several years for some of the most developed economies to return to the pre epidemic level.

Although we hope that the worst of the epidemic will pass soon, there is still considerable uncertainty for the rest of 2021. The virus mutation and the promotion of vaccination, the withdrawal of stimulating fiscal and monetary policies, and the tense geopolitical and trade situation may all affect the forecast results.

In the post epidemic era, structural changes in the future world will bring about changes in the pattern of steel demand. The rapid development of digitization and automation, infrastructure investment, urban center reconstruction and energy transformation will bring exciting opportunities to the steel industry. At the same time, the steel industry is also actively responding to the social demand for low-carbon steel. "