KYIV. March 14 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The upward price trend for long and flat rolled steel on most regional markets strengthened in late February and early March 2016, state-owned enterprise Ukrpromzovnishekspertyza has reported, referring to a recent study published by the weekly bulletin “Steel Market: Analytics, Forecasts, Scenarios.”
The company said in a press release last week that a campaign to boost warehouse stock in China was partially behind the trend. Construction sector stocks rose 1.24 million tonnes in two weeks amid expectations for a seasonal uptick in demand.
According to the study, the steel market’s revival led to increased spot prices for ores in early March. Prices increased sharply, growing by 23%, to $64 per tonne.
“Demand on construction steel mix in Turkey is growing. This has allowed Turkish companies to increase domestic prices for slabs by $20, to $295-315 per tonne EXW, bar products – by $32, to $352-368 per tonne EXW,” the company’s press service said, citing an expert from Ukrpromzovnishekspertyza, Oleh Hnytetsky.
The situation on the flat steel market in February was favorable for producers, who increased prices by $5-30 in all regions.
“Rather scarce stock on the market before the spring period and the rollback of quotations for iron ore on the spot market contributed to this, as well as the rise in the prices of iron ore and scrap metal,” another expert, Dmytro Zheltiakov, said.
EU countries increased their prices by EUR 25-30 after imposing duties on imports of cold rolled steel from Russian and Chinese domestic producers.
