China National Building Materials & Equipment Import & Export Corp (CNBM) has launched a physical trading platform for iron ore, coking coal and steel products.

Steel billet prices moved up last week in most regional markets despite a general weakness in demand for long steel products, with the biggest gains seen in China and Southeast Asia.

Latin America editor Ana Paula Camargo looks at the main news covered by Steel First over the past week.

Metal Bulletin reviews the major stories that have affected the steel market over the past week.

Iraqi steel producer Erbil Steel has postponed expansion plans because of insufficient scrap in the northern part of the country, according to the Arab Iron & Steel Union (AISU).

China’s spot steel prices were mixed on Wednesday May 30 with prices of some steel products rebounding while those of others fell.

The upcoming Lunar New Year period is expected to dampen demand for steel in Asia, although the extent to which it does so continues to depend on the ongoing winter production cuts in China that are scheduled to last until mid-March this year.

Global scrap prices pushed up in the working week from Monday June 5 to Friday June 9, except on the US East Coast.

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

Prices for Asia-origin steel commodities could remain elevated for April- and May-shipment cargoes, although this will depend on further policy changes in China and the United States, market sources have told Metal Bulletin.