Financial Times Deutschland reported that Europe's largest independent steel trader Kloeckner & Co expects Europe's demand for steel to drop significantly in 2012.

Mr Gisbert Ruehl CEO of Kloeckner & Co said that "We are preparing ourselves for a drop in steel demand in Europe of up to 5% in 2012, it could even be worse."

Europe's debt crisis has undermined consumer confidence, hit industrial output and raised the specter of recession in the single currency zone, leaving clients reluctant to stock their inventories in a sector that swings swiftly to match economic cycles.

(Sourced from Financial Times Deutschland)