Thursday, December 17, 2015

#SAILSteelNews 16th December 2015

Outokumpu has completed the sale of its 50% interest in stainless steel tube producer Fischer Mexicana. It has sold its interest to joint venture partner Fischer Edelstahlrohre for US$63 million. As a result of the sale, the Finnish stainless steel group has reduced its debt by Euro 50 million. It comes on top of Outokumpu’s recent sale of a majority stake in its Chinese affiliate SKS which also generated funds for debt reduction. (Source - SBB, London)

Uncoated sheet prices in the US showed modest increases last week, but there were further declines in Europe and Asia, as per The Steel Index’s price report for the 7-13 December week. The weekly average of TSI’s daily reference price for hot rolled coil increased by US$ 3/short ton to US$ 367/st FOB US Midwest mill, while CRC gained US$ 4/st. In Southern Europe TSI’s HRC reference price fell by Euro 2/T to Euro 277/T ex-mill last week, while HDG gained Euro 2/T. HRC also dipped in northern Europe, losing Euro 1/T to Euro 317/T ex-mill. TSI’s reference price for HRC in Asia weakened by US$ 2/T to US$ 272/T CFR ASEAN port last week. (Source - SBB, London)

China’s consumption of steel in 2015 is likely to fall by 4.8% year-on-year to 668 MT and to a level of 648 MT (drop of 3%) in 2016, as per Chinese Govt. China’s crude steel output and iron ore demands are expected to be 806 MT and 1.12 billion tonnes respectively in 2015 and 781MT and 1.073 billion T in 2016. The root causes of the problem are slowing property investment and weakening manufacturing. (Source – Steeltimesinternational)

Production of crude steel in India grew by around 8% to 59.75 MT in the first eight months of fiscal 2015-16 as compared to 55.32 MT in CPLY. In the first 10 months of calendar year 2015, the country has achieved the third position with a share of 5.6% in global steel production. The top two leading producers China and Japan have a share of 50.2% and 6.2%, respectively in the global steel production. (Source - Metal Junction)

Spot hot rolled coil prices in the US Midwest market fell to a near 12-year low during November despite recent action by domestic steelmakers against perceived unfair trade activity. Whilst the flow of imports steadily slows each month, a glut of domestic steel and shortening delivery lead-times continue to negatively weigh on prices. After hot rolled coil (HRC) prices breached the US$ 400 a short ton floor in late October, November spot prices came down by a further US$ 29 a short ton FOB Midwest Mill over a four-week period to US$ 364 a short ton. (Source - Shanghai Metal Market)

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