Steel demand in emerging and developing economies, excluding China, will show growth of 4.1% in 2023 and 4.8% in 2024, although dynamics continue to diverge, worldsteel

          forecasts.

          India’s economy remains resilient to high interest rates, and its steel demand keeps growing driven by government spending on infrastructure and recovery in private investment. Consumer durables is the only underperforming sector. worldsteel expects India’s steel demand may expand by 8.6% in 2023 and by 7.7% in 2024.

          Steel demand among ASEAN nations is also be driven by infrastructure investment, but the 10-nation Southeast Asian group’s exports have slowed considerably on deteriorating global trade and are denting its manufacturing performance. After a 0.2% contraction in 2022, ASEAN steel demand is expected to increase by 3.8% in 2023 and then by 5.2% in 2024, said worldsteel.

          Very high steel demand growth of 19% is expected in Turkey as a result of the earthquake-related construction and the abandonment of unconventional monetary policy that previously drove foreign investment out of the country, worldsteel said.

          The Middle East-North Africa region is expected to see steel demand contracting this year in both Gulf Cooperation Council states and in North Africa due to sluggish construction in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, while high interest rates, currency depreciation, limited access to foreign currency and higher production costs weigh down on growth possibilities in some North African states, worldsteel said. Following growth of 9.4% in 2022, total steel demand in the MENA region is forecast to decrease by 3.5% in 2023 and to fully rebound in 2024, it said.