North America/Price rises succeed for bar products, but fail for sheet

摘要

Price trends remain divided in the North American steel market, with some further gains seen for long product prices but attempts to raise flat-rolled prices failing. Where mills have been able to support prices, they appear to have been helped above all by a combination of restrained domestic output and lower imports. Weak demand is a common factor across most of the steel product range, and for sheet at least, the sharp falloff in Chinese import demand is likely to herald increased supply pressures.