Russia's largest steelmaker, Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK), has switched completely to the use of merchant steel slab supplies at its assets in the United States, rather than continue to import its own slab, because of the volatility in the market.
The admission was made by Grigory Fedorishin, the company's president and chairman of the management board, during a conference call with media on Wednesday July 31."The dynamics of the recent month show a sharp rise in the price of hot-rolled coil [HRC] in the US," he said. "There have been three rounds of increases since the market hit bottom in June, which in total have pushed up offer prices by $70 per tonne. It is not clear whether the most recent rise will be accepted, though, because the market is unpredictable."The steel HRC index, fob mill US, was $29.85 per hundredweight ($597 per short ton, or $658.07 per tonne) on July 31. This was up from $25.54 per cwt on June 21, when the market touched the bottom,...