Import prices into many Asian markets are on the wane, and there is a distinct feeling that the heat is going out of the steel market. Period three may be the last time for mills in Asia, Europe and North America to secure further price increases. Since we reported on the dip in Chinese domestic steel prices last month, further evidence has been emerging of the extent of the slow down in the country's growth rate. Having been rising at 20 percent for many months, the country's steel production in May rose by only 14.1 percent, its lowest year-on-year percent increase since December 2002. Imports of iron ore and other raw materials into China registered a volume decrease in May. But the decline in iron ore imports was a mere 4.5 percent, and is probably as much to the congestion of the country's ports and rail ways as to slackening demand.
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