Posted on 27/07/2017 in category Ferrous
BIR World Mirror on Ferrous Metals / Quarterly report - July 2017
PRESIDENT'S OPENING REMARKS
by William Schmiedel, Sims Group Global Trade Corporation
Grounds for cautious optimism
Chinese steel exports decreased in June to 6.81 million tonnes from May’s 6.98 million tonnes, which was almost half a million tonnes higher than April’s 6.49 million tonnes but down 26% year on year. It is likely that the July figure will be lower. This reduction in steel exports is a good reflection of: a higher-priced domestic market; the effectiveness of countervailing duties imposed by various countries; Beijing’s closure of induction furnaces; and China’s strong GDP and PMI numbers. As long as there are higher domestic prices and margins, mills and traders will continue to focus their efforts locally and look to stay away from exports. This will allow the rest of the world to increase their utilisation rates and will support global prices.
In the EU, steel has kept up a healthy pace, with good support for prices resulting from demand growth exceeding production growth and from a reduction in cheap imports via the regular channels.
There is positive sentiment in the USA regarding the remainder of 2017, even when there have been downward price adjustments for both rebar and HRC (...)