The $900-billion-a-year global steelmaking industry continues to have excess capacity, putting many producers under pressure. The installed steelmaking capacity, which totalled 1.66-billion tonnes in 2018, exceeds demand by more than 500-million tonnes and this trend is expected to continue. The Global Forum on Steel Excess Capacity has stated that it expects the significance of the gap between steelmaking capacity and demand to continue, and to threaten the industry’s long-term viability for many years.
In this context, Creamer Media’s Steel 2019 Report examines the global steel industry over the past 12 months and provides insight, particularly into South Africa’s steel sector, including production and consumption, steel prices, import protection and the impact of US steel tariffs. It also provides and overview of the main producers, as well as a brief overview of the global and local stainless steel market.
This report draws from material published over the past 12 months and is a summary of other sources of information published in Engineering News and Mining Weekly, as well as of information available in the public domain. This report does not purport to provide an analysis of market trends.