By  Paul Ploumis 11 Aug 2015  Last updated at  07:02:18 GMT

BRUSSELS (Scrap Monster): European Steel Association (EUROFER) expects the EU steel demand to rise marginally by 1.5% during 2015. However, the European mills are unlikely to benefit from the cited growth in steel sector demand as much of the demand will be met by imports into the region. Meantime, EU steel imports are expected to rise significantly by 5% during the current year.

According to the recent report titled ‘Economic and Steel Market Outlook 2015-2016’ published by the EUROFER’s Economic Committee, the business conditions in steel market across the region continues to remain muted. Investments have failed to pick up momentum. Almost all major sectors including construction and manufacturing continues to remain sluggish. According to EUROFER, only automotive sector looks promising to deliver steady growth.

The apparent steel consumption by the EU region remained flat year-on-year with marginal rise during first quarter of 2015. The small rise in steel demand was mostly met by overseas supplies. Domestic steel producers in the region failed to take advantage of the steel demand hike. There was not much change to this situation during Q2 2015. The rising imports have destabilized the domestic steel industry in the region. The steel imports from China rose nearly 49% during the initial five-month period in 2015 in comparison with the previous year.

According to EUROFER forecasts, the apparent steel consumption by the region is expected to grow by 1.5% during the entire year 2015. However, with anticipated 5% rise in steel imports during the year, the domestic mills are unlikely to benefit. Furthermore, the EU steel consumption is expected to post 1.9% growth in 2016.