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.

Prices in the global steel billet market continued climbing in the week ended Friday March 2 as market factors supported the upward trend.

Sentiment in the CIS billet export market improved on Thursday June 7 after the resumption in scrap and rebar trading between Turkey and the United States earlier in the week.

The Brazilian long steel market continued to show only weak trading activity for both domestic and foreign sales during September.

Global steel billet prices continued their upward march last week, despite the general slowdown in buying activity, Metal Bulletin has learnt.

Bulk scrap purchasing in the Bangladesh import market is under pressure, largely due to inflated inventories of material and high offer prices, market sources told Fastmarkets on January 10.

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.

The London Metal Exchange will introduce three regional hot-rolled coil contracts at the start of 2019, coinciding with a change in attitude towards risk management tools for the ferrous sector, according to the exchange’s business development manager.

Seaborne coking coal prices rose on Wednesday April 15 due to active trading in China, though demand from countries such as Japan was heard to be weak amid production cuts implemented by mills.

Middle Eastern countries boosted their crude steel output in 2017, with producers calling for more trade protection measures to support self-sufficiency in the sector.