US SBQ market webinar: Drivers of volatility

China’s direct flat steel trade with the EU was already thin, at just 3-5% of total exports, or around 2 million tonnes a year, thanks to years of anti-dumping and countervailing duties. That leaves little room for the bloc’s newly tightened import quotas to inflict much additional direct damage, sources told Fastmarkets.

The transition of the iron ore market to a 61% Fe pricing benchmark is reshaping trading dynamics and leading participants across the value chain to reassess grade preferences, emerging demand centers and the growing importance of product quality in a decarbonizing steel sector, according to panelists speaking at the panel discussion “The benchmark transition ​and its implication from different voices​” at Iron Ore Decoded 2026, a conference co-organized by Fastmarkets and Horizon Insights.​

Iron ore market participants said Simandou’s production ramp-up remains on track to meet market expectations, with growing exports from Guinea expected to influence freight markets, high-grade ore pricing and steel decarbonization strategies.

Argentina’s steel industry is showing signs of recovery in 2026, but the rebound remains uneven, with stronger crude steel output contrasting with weak finished steel demand, depressed long steel consumption and renewed pressure from imports.

A tentative easing of tensions in the Middle East has failed to convince market participants that shipping through the Strait of Hormuz will quickly return to pre-conflict norms, panellists said at Fastmarkets’ Iron Ore Decoded 2026 conference, held during Singapore International Ferrous Week.

India’s drive toward 300 million tonnes per year of steelmaking capacity by 2030 is on track from a capacity standpoint, but panellists at Fastmarkets’ Iron Ore Decoded 2026 conference said the country’s domestic iron ore base is likely to fall short of supporting that growth.