Stainless Steel--Hopes for fourth quarter upturn dashed by weak conditions

摘要

Following a depressing summer, when market activity in the stainless steel sector was slow for both seasonal and economic reasons, market participants were hoping for an upturn in purchasing activity in the fourth quarter. However, a continuous feed of news stories pointing to an ever worsening economic outlook dashed most optimism, and producers as well as consumers now fear that a fourth quarter of faltering demand and weak production has commenced. But a worsening economic outlook is not the only bump in the road towards the revival of stainless market. Overproduction in Asia, combined with the threat of anti-dumping constraints on China's exports currently being discussed in Europe and the US, has contributed to the dashing of hopes for an improvement in stainless market activity this year. 2008 is shaping up as a disappointment for stainless steel, and given current market conditions, we expect no more than 2.0 percent growth in stainless output.