Market sources have been puzzled by the gradual upward trend in China’s steel prices after the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) broke out in a big way after the Lunar New Year holiday.

An oversupply that has been branded the leading cause of the persistent price weakness seen in China’s vanadium market during the first half of 2019 will likely continue to act as a headwind for the rest of the year, market sources told Fastmarkets.

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Tuesday June 9 that are worth another look.

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Wednesday November 13 that are worth another look.

Asia will soon be hit by a “steel tsunami”, a veteran trader in Vietnam told Fastmarkets recently, with a combination of factors expected to keep prices high into the second and third quarters of 2021.

Prices for European long steel products reached a five-year high in the second half of 2017, after a sharp rise in production costs and the return of demand from Algerian rebar importers.

Crude steel production in Germany was down by 24.70% year on year in July due to capacity being cut to balance the drop in demand caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, German steel federation WV Stahl said on Monday August 24.

The possibility of new restrictions in major steelmaking regions in China will likely give long steel prices in the country - which have been trending upward since hitting a price floor a week ago - a further boost in July.

South African manganese alloys producer Transalloys has declared force majeure after a fire at its plant in the country on August 22 that severely impacted the raw material handling system feeding its five furnaces, it was revealed over the weekend.

Long steel prices in EU markets could rise with mills seeking to push offers upward before the announcement of a preliminary decision in Europe’s current import safeguard investigation, market sources told Metal Bulletin on Monday July 2.