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

Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange are once again down across the board, with average losses of 0.3% this morning, Friday September 29. Volume has been average with 5,910 lots traded as of 06:42 BST.

China’s crude steel output dipped in mid-August, reversing the growth trend seen in the first ten days of the month.

Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange are for the most part weaker this morning, Tuesday September 19. The exceptions are aluminium and copper prices that are up by 0.6% and 0.1%, respectively, with the latter at $6,537 per tonne. The rest of the complex are off between 0.3% for zinc prices and 0.9% for nickel prices. Volume has been above average with 8,054 lots traded as of 06:27 BST.

Metal Bulletin reviews the major stories affecting the steel market this week.

Turkey’s steel mills continued their deep-sea purchases for June this week with prices showing a slight decrease, while Taiwanese import and US export prices were holding stable.

The fruits of Marius Kloppers’ crusade for shorter-term prices for iron ore were clear in BHP Billiton’s first-half results published last week. The group’s underlying profits were up 59.7% year-on-year at $17.3 billion for the second half of 2010, but iron ore ebit was up 178%. Iron ore’s share of earnings rose from below one quarter to nearly 40% of earnings, as BHP shifted nearly all sales to more lucrative index-linked or spot prices.

The steel market in Saudi Arabia has slowed in the run up to the Hajj, as buyers postpone bookings until after the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca.

The latest news and price moves to start the Asian day on Thursday July 12.

Good morning from Metal Bulletin’s offices in Asia, bringing the key news and market stories on Tuesday December 26.