Editor Vera Blei looks at the main news covered by Steel First over the past week.

After a strong first quarter of 2018, when more ferrous scrap produced in the United States was bought both at home and abroad, it appeared that the country’s scrap sellers were well placed to fend off buyers’ attempts to push market prices downward.

The beginning of June was marked by reduced availability of steel slabs in the global market. Despite this, forecasts for price trends were mixed, taking into account the different factors influencing the various regional markets.

Seaborne coking coal prices rose to their highest in over two months last week - on Monday June 11, Metal Bulletin’s fob Australia Premium Hard Coking Coal Index was 35% higher than where it was a year earlier - with supply concerns emerging as a key factor affecting the outlook for the market.

The past 12 months have seen a fundamental realignment of West Africa’s iron ore sector.

So President Trump confirmed, last week, that from later this week, he will formally introduce a blanket tariff on steel imports, at 25%, and aluminium, at 10%.