South American flat steel import prices continue to fall on heightened caution

The downward pressure on flat-rolled steel import prices in South America persisted in the week ended Friday November 5, with buyers still cautious of ordering January-shipment cargoes while gauging future demand and overall pricing trends.

More market participants expressed their fears during the week regarding an export duty being imposed on steel products from China from January 2022. They said expectations were for a 10-20% tax, although there was still no confirmation.
One option to mitigate risks, they said, would be for Chinese traders to hold orders in bonded warehouses in China before the duty went into effect. But the most recent tax changes in the Asian country - when the government cut rebates - caused long queues at warehouses, and some clients had to pay the price differential.

A few China-based traders, on the other hand, offered to ship new orders as...

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