Global scrap prices have declined in key regions from the levels they showed a week ago, with the weakening Turkish lira damping sentiment in what is the world’s largest scrap import market.

In the face of increasingly volatile markets in Asia, it is becoming more and more crucial for participants to engage in hedging to cut their risks of incurring losses, industry sources told Metal Bulletin.

Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were all down at the close of morning trading on Thursday January 23, the final trading day before Lunar New Year holidays kick off in China.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the second and third largest steel consuming countries in the Middle East, have suffered mostly indirectly from the impact of Section 232, executives said during a panel at the Middle East Iron & Steel Conference in Dubai on December 10-12.

After one false start, the International Rebar Exporters and Producers Assn meeting kicked off in Budapest this week. It wasn’t particularly pretty.

Steel billet prices in most global markets either held steady or continued to weaken during the week from Monday April 23 to Friday April 27 after global trading activity ebbed away amid soft demand.

China’s daily crude steel production extended its rebound in mid-October and reached 1.999 million tonnes, a five-month high.

If US President Donald Trump approves Section 232 recommendations made by the country's Commerce Department, it could threaten the European steel market with export reduction and the growth of redirected import flows, sources told Metal Bulletin.

The world’s billet markets became uncertain last week, with sentiment starting to weaken amid higher availability of China-origin material and volatility in the East Asian country’s domestic prices.

Metal Bulletin reviews the major stories affecting the steel market over the past week.