Commodities
Defiant Metals Industry Mocks Recession Calls at Top Events
- After brutal end to 2022, industry rejects economic slump talk
- Metals producers, traders, buyers see return to normal levels
A steelworker checks molten metal in the furnace in Koppel, Pennsylvania.
Photographer: Michael Mathes/AFPThis article is for subscribers only.
If a US recession is looming, no one told the smiling well-suited women and men drinking top-shelf liquor at Miami’s rooftop pools and mingling along Tampa’s bayside terraces during two top metals industry events.
Florida became home to two of the largest US industry conferences over a two-week period, where hundreds converged to discuss the outlook for steel and aluminum demand. The general mood was uniform: Don’t expect record growth witnessed the last couple years, but know that demand is normalizing to pre-pandemic levels.