Steel billet prices in the global markets showed mixed dynamics during the working week from Monday May 7 to Friday May 11.

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

While the winter season begins in China, the ferrous market is wondering whether Chinese steelmakers will continue to move toward higher-grade, lower-impurity iron ore - an affinity they have demonstrated over the last two years.

Turkish steel producers have managed to get lower prices from the US East Coast this week, taking the advantage of strong supplies, while Taiwanese and Indian scrap import prices followed a similar trend.

Millions of tonnes of material are likely to be redirected to steel markets outside of the United States if US President Donald Trump levies strict tariffs or quotas on imports after the Section 232 investigation.

Brazilian sellers have ramped up containerized exports of steel scrap into South Asian markets over the past year but this explosion in export sales is unlikely to be a long-term trend, sources have told Fastmarkets.

The uncertainty created by the announcement of import tariffs under Section 232 in the United States kept Turkish steel mills out of the deep-sea scrap markets during the working week from Monday March 19 to Friday March 23, although strong demand in the US domestic market kept sentiment positive.

Japan’s manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for May surprised to the upside at 52.8, having been expected to remain at April’s level of 52.5, while China’s Caixin PMI came in at 51.1, which was unchanged from April’s reading. Taking into account yesterday’s better-than-expected reading on China’s official PMI, economic data may be picking up again, which could bode well for the metals.

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Thursday March 28 that are worth another look.