Construction consumes some 750 million mt/year of steel products globally – 51% of total usage – and the percentage is set to grow as rising populations and urbanization demand more infrastructure and homes. Steel’s use in construction will grow faster than in other fields. The automotive sector, despite inroads from aluminum and the uncertainties of broader mobility changes, should continue to represent 15% of steel usage while oil and gas may see steel usage fall from the current 8% of the total on an eventual move away from fossil fuels.
Still, not all is rosy in the construction camp, where, since the global economic crisis, steel has lost market share to concrete and in some cases timber in nations including Germany, the Netherlands and the UK as well as in Russia and the Middle East. According to worldsteel, which held its second Construction Conference in London April 17-18, this is partly due to funding cuts in promotion of steel as a sustainable and cost-effective material.
In the UK, structural steel’s market share of all construction materials in 2005-9 averaged 71%, falling to 66% in 2016, according to the British Constructional Steelwork Association. In the Netherlands, structural steel’s share in the single storey market fell from 90% in 2005-9 to 80% in 2016, while its share in multi-storey constructions fell from 89% to 80% over the same period, says Bouven met Staal, a national association.
Worldsteel’s director general Edwin Basson stresses it may be time for steelmakers and associations “to do something similar to what was done with the auto industry” – referring to a concerted worldwide initiative to publicize the role of steel in construction. In recent years, a campaign to publicize ultralight automotive steel is thought to have won some market share back for steel against aluminum.
Collaboration is key as the construction sector prepares for new buildings to become emissions-free by 2050 at an operational level in line with the 2015 Paris Agreement.
Under worldsteel’s year-old “contructsteel” initiative, actions to boost steel’s role in construction are taking place with companies including France’s Saint-Gobain, a plasterboard and glass manufacturer that may in the past have been considered a “competitor”, and major steelmakers including Tata Steel and ArcelorMittal. Also involved are steel construction development associations including Bouwen met Staal, the UK’s Steel Construction Institute, German associations and Russia’s ARSS, sponsored by steel producers Evraz, OMK, Mechel, Severstal and NLMK.
Others are seeking involvement. “The Brazilians are knocking at the door,” Basson said, noting contacts from the Brazilian Steel Institute and Latin American Steel Association Alacero, while discussions are taking place with Chinese companies, supported by Chinese Steel Association CISA.
Diana Kinch, PLATTS
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