Capacity utilization reached a new high in five years, and the global steel industry is showing good momentum.

The World Steel Association announced in April this year that global steel demand will reach 1,616.1 million tons in 2018, an increase of 1.8% over 2017. By 2019, global steel demand is expected to grow by 0.7% to 1,266.7 million tons.

According to the statistics released by the recent World Steel Association, global crude steel production has shown an overall growth trend since the 2008 financial crisis. Since the downturn in 2015, the world steel industry has recovered in the past two years. The global steel prices have rebounded steadily, approaching a reasonable level, and the capacity utilization rate has steadily increased. Overall, the global steel industry is showing good momentum.

T.V. Narendran, Chairman of the World Steel Association Market Research Committee, said: "In the next few years, thanks to the recovery of investment in developed economies and the continuous improvement of confidence levels, the global economic situation is expected to continue to maintain a good momentum. Benefit from this, advanced economies and development Steel demand in the Chinese economy is expected to continue to grow and is relatively limited by risk factors. However, the negative impact of increased trade tensions and the possibility of a rate hike by the US and the EU may affect current growth."