The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development says that its latest assessment of composite leading indicators (CLIs) shows stronger signs that the world economy is recovering.

The OECD’s CLIs are considered to give a signal of future economic performance, and hence demand for steel, as Steel Business Briefing has previously reported.

“Clear signals of recovery” are now visible in all the seven major OECD economies – particularly France and Italy – as well as in China, India and Russia, the organisation says.

CLIs for July 2009 increased in the USA, Japan, Canada, Germany and other European countries. For the OECD area as a whole, July’s reading was up by 1.5 point from June but remained 1.9 point lower than July 2008.

July 2009 CLIs for France, Italy and the UK were higher than the same month last year, indicating growing prospects for economic expansion.

China’s July CLI was 1.5 point higher than June but 0.7 lower than a year ago. The signs for Brazil are also more encouraging, although its July CLI remained almost 10 points down on the same month last year.

Steel Business Briefing, 16th September 2009

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