Markets in USA & Canada

摘要

The steel market seems in any case to be proceeding under its own momentum. Steelmakers' utilisation rates have been rising since the beginning of the year, but have still to reach the levels seen during the first nine months of 2006. If instead of cutting output from October onwards mills had maintained last year's January-September average of 87 percent, the supply of hot metal from domestic sources would have been 3m tonnes higher during the past five months. Imports were at record levels last year, but, as the chart shows, they declined in the final quarter and the fall has continued in both finished products and semis. The prices of both imports and domestic material have risen. While most import prices are below equivalent domestic prices, customers look for a wider differential to compensate for the long and uncertain lead times associated with imports. As a result, forward orders remain low.