Hawkish US trade policy and weaker than expected Chinese market dents steel market confidence

摘要

The steel world has been dominated by a combination of the US trade spat with China and other steelproducing nations and weaker than expected conditions in China that have resulted in a surge in inventory,particularly for long products. These two issues have meant there is a significantly wider price premium forUS domestic steel compared with elsewhere in the world. While US steel mills are celebrating the tightermarket, with high steel prices and margins, steel prices elsewhere have generally fallen over the past month.High levels of uncertainty have dented the confidence of market participants and buyers have been holdingoff purchases in anticipation of even lower steel prices.