[Ferro-Alloys.com] China's economy expanded by almost 5pc in the third quarter, continuing the country's recovery from its Covid-19 outbreak earlier this year.

GDP increased by 4.9pc from a year earlier during July-September, the national statistics bureau (NBS) said. That was an acceleration from year-on-year growth of 3.2pc for April-June and followed a decline of 6.8pc in the first quarter — the first contraction in China's economy in almost 50 years.

The World Steel Association (worldsteel) released an update to its Short Range Outlook (SRO) for 2020 and 2021 on Oct 15. This SRO is showing a much more optimistic outlook than the previous SRO finalised in June. While still showing a decline in demand for 2020, it is a much smaller decline than previously expected.

In 2020 worldsteel forecasts that steel demand will contract by -2.4%, dropping to 1,725.1 Mt due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021 steel demand is expected to recover to 1,795.1 Mt, an increase of 4.1 % over 2020. A strong recovery in China will mitigate the reduction in global steel demand this year. The post lockdown recovery in steel demand in the rest of the world has been stronger than was earlier expected, but it still marks a deep contraction in 2020, both from developed and emerging economies, with only a partial recovery expected in 2021.

Click here for more information: Ferrosilicon Daily Express 10.20

 

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The 2nd China Manganese Rich-Slag Technology Innovation and Policy Summit

Beijing, China    Oct. 30-31 2020