The US tariffs and its impact on slab trade

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
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The increasing use of composites materials in the automotive industry

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
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Flat steel market remained quite in major markets in February

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
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A quick overview of the global flat steel market

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
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The UK government’s 25-year environmental plan to impact the plastic packaging industry

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
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Stability in China and firm demand in most markets

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
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OBOR and the railway infrastructure market

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
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China’s impact continues around the world

China has proven once again that it has a global impact on the steel market. The recent surge in steel prices in China had a knock on effect on every corner of the world, including markets where demand fundamentals did not justify a price increase. In the past few years, the Chinese central government has
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One Belt, One Road — the main beneficiary

In 2013, China’s president, Xi Jinping, proposed the ’One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative, to create the world’s largest platform for trade and economic development. The State Council authorised the plan in 2015 comprising two components, the silk road economic belt and the maritime silk road, creating a network of roads, railways and waterways. The
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CPEC is set to revive construction and infrastructure market in Pakistan

China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is around 3,000 km long trade route from Pakistan’s Gwadar Port to Kashgar city in northwestern China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. The route is comprised of a raft of mega construction and infrastructure projects set to be completed by 2030. The Chinese government promised to finance CPEC with $46 billion investment,
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