La performance of the steel sector worldwide in 2012 was weak due to the slowdown of the global economy and characterized by different trends by area. The trend shows a slight acceleration in the first 8 months of 2013, which recorded an increase in world production of 2,5% compared to the same period of 2012.
In 2012, the Asian continent recorded a production growth of 3%, exceeding one billion metric tons (about 65% of world production). Negative the performance of the European area with a contraction of the volumes produced during 2012 of 4,5%, mainly due to the profound crisis of the downstream sectors (in particular automotive and buildings).
The main criticalities of the sector are the incomplete exploitation of the production capacity (overcapacity) and excess supply against still weak demand conditions (oversupply). From the point of view of companies in the sector, the volatility of input prices and the decline in final prices have had three types of implications: i) reduction of profit margins, ii) lack of investment in new plants, iii) rationalization of production processes and vertical integration (in particular through M&A activities).
THEoutlook of the sector in the medium term is moderately positive (production should register an increase of 2,9% in the period 2013-2018), although factors of uncertainty remain linked to the criticality of the individual markets.
