Prices
May 12, 2020
CRU: Five Critical Uncertainties Facing the Steel Raw Materials Market Due to Covid-19
Written by CRU Americas
By CRU Principal Consultant Laura Brooks and Senior Consultant Amir Sabet, from CRU’s Crude Steel Market Outlook
The market impacts of Covid-19 are unknown in scale, varied and staggered in time across the world. The steel raw materials markets are being affected to a lesser or greater extent depending on the demand-side and supply-side regional focus, and exposure to oil prices and exchange rate fluctuations, both of which are impacting delivered costs. The current iron ore price is holding up well, whereas that for met coal has dropped. At a high level, this is the result of differing supply-side trends over recent months, and the reliance on Chinese seaborne demand for iron ore, which is now strengthening, and Indian demand for met coal, which is slowing and shrouded with uncertainty.
