By Alex MacDonald
LONDON--European Union steel-market conditions aren't expected
to improve before 2013 as a result of the EU's sovereign-debt
crisis, the European Steel Association, or Eurofer, said in a
statement late Thursday.
This marks a delay from its May report in which Eurofer said it
expected E.U. apparent steel demand to start recovering in the
third quarter and real demand to start recovering in the fourth
quarter.
Wolfgang Eder, chairman of Eurofer and CEO of Austrian specialty
steelmaker Voestalpine AG (VOE.VI), said in a statement: "We need
answers to the challenges facing the euro zone if we are to see
confidence return to the markets and Europe's economy brought back
on track."
European steelmakers are considering further production cuts in
order to remove excess capacity from the market. ArcelorMittal
(MT), the world's largest steelmaker, plans to carry out
maintenance on two blast furnaces in the third quarter and is only
expected to restart them depending on the level of demand.
India-based Tata Steel Ltd. (500470.BY), Europe's second-largest
steelmaker after ArcelorMittal, is also planning to shut down a
U.K. a blast furnace in July in order to rebuild the furnace and
may delay its restart depending on demand.
Eurofer had previously expected E.U. apparent steel demand to
rise 0.2% on year. A senior executive at one of the top five
steelmakers, however, said that he had also expected E.U. apparent
steel demand to rise but now expects European flat-steel demand to
drop 8% on year in the third quarter.
Write to Alex MacDonald at alex.macdonald@dowjones.com