Most flat-rolled steel import prices in South America gave in to global downward pressure in the week to Friday March 20, as concerns about demand sustainability and persistently aggressive bids led to less expensive offers for May shipments.
Market participants expressed fears regarding how long demand could hold amid government lockdowns across the continent to contain the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) pandemic. Some sources were looking forward to negotiations for June shipments, which were expected to recover in comparison with May.Said a second mill source: "To be honest, we tried holding previous offer prices, but we started facing difficulties to settle deals at the previous price...