February 2012 | Steel Tracker
Market movers: International Flat Product Market Analysis
Prices have increased by as much as 7.4% in Europe.
The restocking has well and truly begun in the western steel markets. Aside from the macroeconomic issues, pricing trends show us a strengthening market in both the USA and Europe. Hot rolled coil prices in the USA domestic market is now up 4.5% on a month-on-month basis from $741/tonne in January to today’s price of $774/tonne. We have now seen a large amount of booked orders, rather than just paper increases and, these seem to be prompting more buyers back into the market and stock up ahead of further price increases. The demand for material has never be in question due to the length of time that buyers have been on the market sidelines but, are we to see prices follow seasonal trends?
The European market has sprung back to life in the last two weeks as mills began to follow global price trends in...
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