Flat Product Analysis

摘要

Supply There is no sign that US coil mills will abandon their disciplined restraint on production but the change in market mood could result in the arrival of more imports. Output in the EU is also likely to stay down, with some longer term closures, but as in the USA, imports threaten to add significantly to supply. Although traditional sources, such as CIS mils, will look for higher prices elsewhere, Chinese mills, which seem unlikely despite losses to cease to overproduce, have already raised shipments to the EU. They are likely to maintain their recent trend towards exports of value-added products, to the EU as well as to the rest of the world. Producers in Japan, and in the smaller economies in Asia, are likely to continue to limit output to match orders and to try to guard markets against low priced imports.