Central and South America will see an 8.9% jump in apparent steel use this year to 44.6Mt, and a further increase of 7% in 2009 to 47.7Mt, according to the report, which added that demand in the region grew 13.7% in 2007 to 41Mt.

Global apparent steel use is expected to grow 6.3% in 2009, reaching 1.36Bt.

Apparent steel use in the Nafta region, which includes Mexico, fell 9.1% last year to 142Mt due to the slowing US economy, the report said. Nafta should see growth of 1.9% to 144Mt this year and 1% to 146Mt for 2009.

"The underlying assumption behind this forecast is that although some weakening in the US and EU economies is expected, demand for steel will remain healthy thanks in part to the emerging markets which will maintain their own dynamism," IISI chairman Ku-Taek Lee said.

The BRIC countries - Brazil, Russia, India and China - will again be leading the growth with an expected increase of 11.1% to 579Mt for 2008 and 10.3% to 638Mt for 2009, the IISI report said.