Apparent steel consumption (including total steel production, imports and exports) in the European Union in 2024, according to preliminary estimates by Eurofer, fell by 2.3% to 127 million tons.
This is worse than the association’s previously published expectations, according to which the decline could be 1.8%. In 2023, steel consumption in the EU fell by 5.8% to 130 million tons.
According to Eurofer’s report, in 2025, the recovery in apparent steel consumption will be slower than the association had previously predicted – the growth is expected to be 2.2% against 3.8% previously expected, provided that the situation in the industry develops positively and global tensions ease, which is currently unpredictable.
Consumption may reach about 130 million tons in 2025 and 133 million tons in 2026.
The overall dynamics of steel demand in the European region remains highly uncertain. No improvement in apparent steel consumption is expected until the first quarter of 2025, and consumption volumes will remain well below pre-pandemic levels, the association notes.
In the third quarter of 2024, apparent steel consumption continued to decline (-0.9% after -1.4% in the previous quarter) and amounted to 30.4 million tons.
Data for the fourth quarter will be published later. Real steel consumption in 2024, according to preliminary data, decreased by 3.8% in the EU, and in 2025 it is expected to recover moderately by 1%, while previously it was forecast to grow by only 0.6%. In 2026, real steel consumption could grow by another 1.9%.
