2020 Taiwan Industrial Outlook-Metal Material

In 2019, the crude steel production in Taiwan was 22.06 million metric tons, which makes it the 12th biggest steel producing country in the world, accounting for 1.18% of the global production and a self-sufficiency rate of 86.7%. 61.6% of the production comes from blast furnaces, while 38.4% comes from electric furnaces. Out of the total crude steel production in 2019, 21.984 million metric tons was carbon crude steel, accounting for 95.0% of all steel types produced, while stainless and alloy steel only accounted for 5.0%. The World Steel Association indicated that, due to the impact of COVID-19, the global apparent steel consumption in 2020 will see a decrease of 6.4% to 1.6539 billion tons. The consumption would rebound by 3.8% to 1.7174 billion tons in 2021. The lockdown measures and plant shutdown hit the production and demand of the steel-consuming industries. The demand for steel in Asia is expected to shrink by 2.8% in 2020, but America would be affected the most. North America and Central and South America could see a decrease in demand of 20.0% and 17.3%, respectively. Factors that affect the global steel industry in 2020 are as follows: (1) the development of COVID-19;(2) a slash in the interest rate by the US Federal Reserve, the resurgence of quantitative easing monetary policy, and persistent easing in monetary policy among other economies;(3) the effect of economic stimulus packages adopted by each country;(4) and the price trend of raw materials, such as crude oil. The economy is expected to recover in Q3 as many countries have been gradually reopening economic activities since mid-May.