China’s economic growth slowed to a three-year low of 7.6% in the second quarter 2012 and is expected to bottom out in the second half.
The World Steel Association – which represents 85% of global steel producers – says that China’s steel industry is now faced with a ‘new phase of slower growth’. Dr Nae Hee Han, chief economist of worldsteel, dubbed the first decade of the 21st century as the ‘decade of China’, but added that the industry faces new challenges as the ‘intensive growth era’ has ended as China’s steel demand will shift from investment and construction driven demand in the previous decade into consumer-driven demand.
Source: China Metals e-mail [email protected]