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    Market Segment

    February 23, 2020

    CRU: How is Covid-19 Affecting China’s Steel Production and Exports?

    Written by Paul Butterworth

    By CRU Research Manager Paul Butterworth and Analyst Zhenzhen Jiang, from CRU’s Global Steel Trade Service

    The loss of steel demand from Covid-19 has pushed Chinese steelmakers to either reduce utilization or idle capacity but, as steel stocks at mills reach critical levels, they will increasingly seek to offload in the export market. Decisions by mills will be dictated by the processes they are operating (EAF or BF/BOF), location of the mill and cost competitiveness, as well as more prosaic considerations such as physical space. EAF producers are most likely to idle capacity, possibly due to the flexibility of their operations, but more likely because scrap is simply not available as collection will be impacted by a lack of trucking capacity and workers. However, integrated mills will have less flexibility and are likely to be coming under more pressure to export steel or sell at low prices domestically to move material into trader stocks.

    Paul Butterworth

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    AISI: Domestic mill production retreats after prior-week surge

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    Nucor ups spot HR coil to $1,295/ton

    Nucor said on Monday, Nov. 9, that its consumer spot price (CSP) for hot-rolled (HR) coil will be $1,295 per short ton (st) this week, up $15/st from the prior week. The CSP for HR coil from California Steel Industries (CSI) on the West Coast will be $1,365/st, also up $15/st from last week. Nucor continues to offer lead times of three to five weeks, according to its letter to customers. You can track mill price announcements on our website. Steel Market Update (SMU) published a weekly price assessment on Tuesday, Nov. 3, showing HR coil prices averaging $1,350/st, up $45/st from the previous week. We will update our prices on the evening of Tuesday, Oct. 10.

    Leibowitz: Will the next Congress take aim at Trump’s tariffs to address affordability concerns?

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    Canadian minister urges probe of Cliffs’ handling of Stelco

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