Peak Pain ‘Has Yet to Come’ for World’s Top Steel Industry
- Virus outbreak to hurt China consumption, Mysteel’s Wang says
- Demand for construction steel is ‘almost at a standstill’ now
This article is for subscribers only.
The pain being felt across China’s behemoth steel sector from the coronavirus outbreak is far from over, according to a senior industry analyst, who expects further near-term declines in prices, bulging inventories, and weaker demand before a recovery kicks in after several months.
“The peak of the fundamental pressures has yet to come,” Wang Jianhua, chief steel analyst at Mysteel Research Institute, said in an interview. “While China is beginning to return to work, the rise in steel demand, activity is very limited, and it may take one to two weeks to even see a start in recovery.”