Problems for the Russian steel market at the end of the year.

The rapid rise of the Russian steel market in Q2 2014 has gradually moved into a period of the stability of quotations with high demand in summer and early autumn, and now the market is predictably decreasing. This year winter starts unusually early, during which the apparent consumption of various types of steel products is reduced by 15-30% compared with summer peaks due to the seasonal factors.
Nevertheless, the negative trends in the domestic steel sector are not limited to the adverse weather conditions. In recent years, almost all the analysts are reviewing the forecasts of steel consumption in Russia downwards. So, if in spring the Russian experts and the analysts of the World Steel Association (WSA) predicted the expansion of the Russian market by 2.5-3% in 2014, in a recent survey, published in early October, WSA points out the decrease by 0.5% for Russia compared to last year.