ArcelorMittal expects that the steel production in other regions of the world would decline. It is predicted that the steel consumption in Europe would fall more than 20% this year, while America would have a 20% decrease, and the other countries excluding China would drop by 15% to 20%.
Mr LN Mittal president of ArcelorMittal said that based on the stimulus plan launched by the state, together with the cash flow and business loan, the actual demands of steel will increase. China's fixed asset investment increased more than 37% in June and the industrial output had a nearly 11% increase.
Mr Mittal said that at the same time, the steel demand will increase by 16%, which is an excited news in view that some insiders of industry forested earlier this year China's demand would fall in 2009.
He added that China's steel mills have been improving the production to meet the increasing domestic demand, the current capacity utilization rate is 96% and most of them have basically realized full capacity. Even if China was the steel net importer in the past several months and the export tax rebate policy on steel released recently can not reverse this tendency.
He pointed out that China' s steel price has been rising and expected that due to the active demand, plus the improving capacity utilization rate and increasing cost of raw materials, the price will continue rising.