Industry-news

Brazilian domestic steel distributors have begun to press for additional price concessions from their local suppliers. The Instituto Aço Brasil (IABr) has reported that finished steel sales in the home market during April totalled 1.51 million tonnes – down 22.0 percent, compared with the previous month’s figure.

Difficult business conditions persist in the Russian Federation. Local trading houses plan to postpone purchases until the pricing scenario is more transparent. Domestic steelmakers have delayed releasing their preliminary June basis quotations for both flat and long finished steel products.

India’s Ministry of Steel has proposed imposing stricter quality controls for semi-finished and finished steel products imported into the country. If the new measures are formally approved, materials covered by the new codes would have to be certified by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).

The market remains challenging in Ukraine. The May trading period was shortened by the close proximity of the Easter and national holidays.

Turkish steelmakers have had mixed success in their efforts to obtain higher transaction values to distributors. The strength of the US dollar against the local currency remains a problem.

Uncertainty continues to unsettle business confidence in the United Arab Emirates. Local distributors are forecasting no significant price recovery in either the flat or long products segments in the interim. The majority plan to purchase only on a requirement basis until the pricing scenario is more transparent.

South African service centres are growing more pessimistic about the prospects for domestic steel consumption in 2015. Deliveries to downstream industries continue to underperform.

Challenging business conditions persist in Mexico. Local steelmakers are expected to shadow the pricing strategies of their US counterparts next month.