During his speech at the SteelOrbis 2025 autumn conference and the 93rd IREPAS meeting, held in Munich on September 28-30, Alexander Gordienko, Export Director of the Spanish CELSA Group, began by saying that in July this year, the IMF lowered its forecast for global GDP growth for 2025 from 3.3 percent to 3.0 percent. pointing to the loss of potential steel demand in the amount of 25 million tons. He added that developing Asian countries are expected to grow by more than five percent, pointing out that 88 percent of the growth is coming from outside China, showing that many developing countries are doing well economically.
Looking at construction, Mr. Gordienko said that in the EU, the construction sector is recovering this year, but only in infrastructure, where housing construction is blocked by bureaucracy, while in the US, housing starts have also decreased by 19 percent since 2019, and infrastructure spending has increased by 14 percent over the same period. period. There is no hope of recovery in China, as steel demand from housing has decreased by 45 percent compared to 2019.
Based on Worldsteel data for August 2025, the CELSA official noted that India is becoming the only country to increase steel production, with growth of more than 10 percent year-on-year between January and August. India produces as much as Japan and Russia combined, he noted. On the other hand, in the same period, the MENA and South-East Asian countries
