The Russian Steel Association has decreased its forecast on steel consumption in Russia in 2018 to 1% from 2.6% in June.
At the same time, for the first time since 2013 the dynamics of metal consumption stagnation has switched to the growth, which equaled to 5.1%.
In 2016-2017 machine building was the main driver of the metal consumption growth – 15% in 2016 and 26% in 2017. Stagnation in consumption of steel, used in car manufacture, construction industry and metal wares production saw the increase of 11%, 5% and 9% in 2017 respectively.
In 2018 Russian metal makers will be able to retain export volumes on the 2017 level. But because of the sanctions, the share of the semi-finished products in the exports will keep increasing. (Ukrainian metal)
