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Print[Ferro-Alloys.com] European demand for stainless steel is likely to remain weak at least until next year as economic stagnation in the region and tight finance crimp major consumers such as the automotive and construction sectors, market participants said.
Stainless steel prices have shed about 15 percent of their value in the last six months, due to overcapacity, poor demand and falling prices for raw materials such as nickel.
Demand weakness will persist in Europe until serious plans emerge to address the euro zone debt crisis, market players said on the sidelines of the Metal Bulletin stainless steel conference this week.
"I expect demand will remain weak, at least until 2013," a Scandinavian trader said. "Nobody is very optimistic at the moment. I don't even know if things will get better in the first quarter next year."
Franz Rotter, a member of the board of Austrian steelmaker Voestalpine, said in an interview there are no signals that the special steel market will turn around at least until next year.
Importers of foreign material into Europe also said they were finding it increasingly difficult to sell stainless steel in the region.
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