LONDON: Steel order books in Europe and the United States have improved over the past month, prompting producers to restart some idled capacity, but full recovery is some months away because real demand remains depressed.

Behind the uptick in orders is the fact that destocking in the United States has finished and in Europe is coming to an end, which analysts say is the reason for higher steel prices and resumption of output.

ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steelmaker, last week said it was planning to restart some of its idled capacity in the United States and Brazil. US Steel Corp also signaled that it was about to bring back some capacity.