Short Range Outlook : November 2019
Confusing environment prevails in global long steel products market The current environment in the global long steel products market is confusing. The raw material for blast furnaces is becoming cheaper, while ferrous scrap is getting more expensive and we observe increasing prices for both reinforcing bars and hot rolled coils. Customers are making inquiries for longer than they normally should, and mills are incurring greater losses than they can... Read More
US DOC initiates circumvention inquiry into Mexican rebar
The US Department of Commerce announced the initiation of a circumvention inquiry into imports of steel concrete reinforcing steel bar from Mexico, to determine if imports of reinforcing bars that are bent at one or both ends circumvent the existing antidumping duty (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) orders. In 2018, imports of reinforcing bars from Mexico were valued at an estimated $51 million. The inquiry was initiated in response to requests from... Read More
IREPAS in Duesseldorf : Changing trade flows and market challenges discussed against backdrop of protectionism, trade conflicts and depressed conditions
The 81st meeting of IREPAS (the International Rebar Exporters and Producers Association) was held in Duesseldorf, Germany on September 22-24, 2019 in conjunction with the SteelOrbis Fall’19 Conference. There were 138 producer representatives among the 426 registered delegates from a total of 46 different countries. There were also 78 registrations representing 38 different raw material suppliers. At the opening of the conference, Murat Cebecioglu,... Read More
Short Range Outlook : September 2019
Global long steel market currently depressed amid more difficult circumstances The global long steel products market is depressed at the moment as circumstances are becoming more difficult. It has become a buyer’s market and is difficult to secure orders at reasonable prices. The problem lies more on the demand side rather than with supply, and, therefore, it might take longer for a balance to be reached. Steel prices decline amid sharp drops in... Read More
President Trump increases “Buy American” threshold to 95 percent
US President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday, July the 15th that will require federal agencies to purchase products using more American components. The order strengthens the standards that federal agencies must follow under the Buy American Act, which creates a preference for American-made goods. Trump said his order will gradually boost the percentage of U.S. components for qualifying American-made products from 50 percent to 75 percent.... Read More
Short Range Outlook : July 2019
Uncertainty still prevails in global longs market , while BOF production faces severe pressure The outlook for the global long steel products market differs for the scrap industry, the steel producing industry and for steel consumers. The market can be described as generally unstable as there is still a lot of uncertainty and even a tweet may turn a lot of things upside down. We are going through a tough period particularly for BOF-based producers,... Read More
Short Range Outlook : June 2019
Uncertainty in global long steel products market increases dramatically The uncertainty in the global long steel products market has increased dramatically. Nowadays, the most stable region is China, where steelmakers have been increasing their weekly production volumes, whereas the rest of the world is just trying to hang on. Ferrous scrap and iron ore price trends decouple completely Ferrous scrap and iron ore price trends have completely decoupled. Iron... Read More
US not to impose punitive tariffs against imported products from Mexico
The Trump administration announced they would not be moving forward with punitive tariffs against imported products from Mexico. Presdient Trump had previously announced the US would be imposing a five percent tariff on all goods imported from Mexico, including steel, adding that the tariff would be increased up to 25 percent by October if Mexico did not take action to “dramatically reduce or eliminate” the number of illegal aliens crossing its... Read More
US to impose five percent tariff on all Mexican goods as of June 10
According to a White House statement, US President Donald Trump has said that, starting on June 10, the United States will impose a five percent tariff on all goods imported from Mexico. He added that this tariff will be increased up to 25 percent in the coming period if Mexico does not take action to dramatically reduce or eliminate the number of illegal aliens crossing its territory into the US. The White House statement indicated that, if the illegal... Read More
Canada and Mexico officially lift retaliatory tariffs against the US
According to multiple news reports, Canada and Mexico on Monday lifted retaliatory tariffs on US goods, including steel, aluminum, whiskey and beef, after the US lifted on Friday Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from the two countries. All three countries are currently working on ratifying the new USMCA trade deal. Canada and Mexico had both insisted previously that the tariffs be lifted before the trade deal was implemented. Read More