July 2012 | Steel Tracker
Is the best we can now hope for, in terms of pricing, a flat outlook?: International Flat Product Market Analysis
Prices seek the floor before markets turn inactive for the seasonal slowdown.
Producers certainly are holding onto that view. The MBR Flat Product Price Index has reached what has historically been a floor in terms of global prices, however, as the chart shows, the market has not hit such a floor with as much downward momentum as it has done this year. There is no doubt that this excess momentum has come as a result of financial strains in the European and US markets, which have already resulted in agencies such as the World Steel Association (WSA) revising down their forecasts for the second half of 2012.
There is usually an air of expectation that the while prices fall during the summer months, they are offset by a sudden pickup in demand during the latter part of the third quarter, when markets resume normal business. However, the sentiment has shifted...
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