Metal Bulletin reviews the major stories that have affected the steel market over the past week.
Physical iron ore prices weakened on Friday May 18, in line with drops in the rebar and futures markets, although earlier increases mean the week-on-week change was minimal.The seaborne coking coal market is in stalemate with a widening gap between bids and offers. Taiwanese scrap import prices widened upward on steady buying this week, with at least three deals done. German steelmakers have settled their monthly scrap contracts for May at unchanged prices due to balanced supply and demand.Turkish deep-sea scrap import prices fell sharply on Thursday May 17. Weak demand in the domestic finished steel markets meant producers had sought lower scrap import prices; that initially resulted in a wide bid-offer gap and slow trading before offers decreased and cargoes were booked. Export prices for Brazilian pig iron materials have shown differing trends in mid-May, with the local market maintaining strong demand levels. Pig iron export trading in the Commonwealth...