The global composites materials market will see substantial growth in the next ten years
Tuesday, 27 March 2018
by Commodity Inside
Composite materials have been substituting conventional materials across various applications for decades, though with slow penetration rates. The growth rate in the composites materials industry has started getting traction. However, in volume terms, composites are still far behind due to lack of technical advancements in the raw materials manufacturing process, costs of raw materials, composite
- Published in Plastics
US grants exemption on steel tariffs to EU and four other countries
Thursday, 22 March 2018
by Commodity Inside
The Trump administration has decided to grant a temporary exemption to the EU, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico and South Korea from the punitive tariffs. However, this exemption is temporary, and the terms will be negotiated on a country by country basis. One of the points in the negotiation would be to ally with the
- Published in Steel
US tariffs on steel imports will distort the steel market globally
Thursday, 22 March 2018
by Commodity Inside
The 25% tariff on steel imports announced by the US President on March 8th and is due to be implemented from March 23rd has already provoked reactions in the US and elsewhere. There has been opposition from both the opposition and GOP against this move due to concerns that it could end up harming US
- Published in Steel
The US tariffs and its impact on slab trade
Friday, 09 March 2018
by Commodity Inside
Donald Trump has now signed an order to impose import tariffs of 25% on steel and 10% aluminium arguing that the US has been suffering from “unfair trade” and the move would help the US metal industry. The tariffs will be effective in 15 days. However, Canada and Mexico have been exempted temporarily, whilst the
- Published in Steel
The increasing use of composites materials in the automotive industry
Monday, 05 March 2018
by Commodity Inside
Composites penetration growth in the automotive industry is the second largest after the aerospace sector in term of revenue. Composites are being used in luxury and sports cars, buses and rolling stocks for almost two decades. Use of these materials had previously been difficult in term of mass production of vehicles due to their special
- Published in Automotive, Plastics
Flat steel market remained quite in major markets in February
Thursday, 01 March 2018
by Commodity Inside
Due to the Chinese New Year and subdued end-users demand, the steel market has remained quiet in China, with much less price variation in February compared to the preceding month. Some buyers have been following the wait-to-see approach and drawing on inventories before the festival season. In fact, some producers had already stopped the production
- Published in Steel
A quick overview of the global flat steel market
Monday, 05 February 2018
by Commodity Inside
Current Market Conditions: Flat steel prices increase in most markets After almost five months of the price hike, flat steel prices decreased through most of January in China. As the winter goes by, some of the end user demand cools down, but stocks at distribution centres are still high. Moreover, ahead of the upcoming Chinese
- Published in Steel
The UK government’s 25-year environmental plan to impact the plastic packaging industry
Thursday, 18 January 2018
by Commodity Inside
The UK government has recently published a 25 Year Environment Plan (25YEP) showing its commitments to improve the environment. One of the goals is to minimise waste, mainly plastic and plastic packaging. It is estimated that nearly 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic have been produced globally since the 1950s, and with the expected demand growth
Stability in China and firm demand in most markets
Tuesday, 05 December 2017
by Commodity Inside
Chinese prices have finally started to change direction, heading south this month, though lower supply and relatively firm demand (especially from the automotive sector) have prevented large falls. In fact, HRC export prices dropped by USD 10/t. Although small, the price decline was enough to influence other markets, such as Brazil and Russia. However, domestic
- Published in Automotive, Steel
OBOR and the railway infrastructure market
Tuesday, 14 November 2017
by Commodity Inside
The One Belt, One Road (OBOR) is the Chinese government global initiative to connect China with rest of the world through roads, railways, ports and gas pipelines. With the enormous potential investment of $900 billion, the project was initiated in 2013 by the Chinese President Xi Jinping, and is considered the most massive overseas investment
- Published in Construction, Steel