The price spread between higher and lower grades of iron ore continued to widen in 2017, mainly as a result of Chinese’s steelmakers’ growing profit margins.

China’s winter steel production cuts are expected to provide some much-needed support to Asian steel prices, according to market sources.

The safeguard investigation by the European Commission (EC) into steel product imports is likely to result in quotas being applied instead of tariffs, according to the International Rebar Producers & Exporters Association (Irepas).

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

Brazil-based steel producer Gerdau has made further moves this month in its asset divestment programme, announcing the sale of its Chilean operations to local family-owned groups Matco and Ingeniaría e Inversiones for $154 million.

Steel billet prices in most markets were stable or continued to slide in the week from Monday May 28 to Friday June 1, due to thin trading activity, falling scrap prices, and uncertainty about the United States renewing its sanctions on Iran.

ArcelorMittal’s Brazilian subsidiary, in a move intended to make the company more competitive domestically, signed a deal at the end of February to purchase local long steel producer Votorantim Siderurgia.

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

The growth of demand has been the key factor influencing the positive trend in the global steel market in recent years, Fastmarkets research manager Alistair Ramsay said earlier this month at the 22nd Middle East Iron and Steel Conference in Dubai.

The knock-on effect of Section 232 tariffs imposed by the United States in March this year on imports of steel and aluminium has been swift and dramatic.