18 February 2019

Latest Steel Market News

Iran’s DRI production exceeds  21 million tonnes

(Middle East): Direct reduced iron (DRI) production in Iran reached in total over 21 million tonnes in ten months for the period 21 March 2018 to 21 January 2019. The period is based on the Iranian Islamic calendar. The output increased 27% from the same period of the previous year.

The US DoC submits auto tariff investigation report to the President

(North America): The US Department of Commerce submitted its automotive tariffs related report to President Trump on 17th  February. The details of the report have not been made public yet. Now the President has 90 days to act upon on the recommendation in the report.

India’s finished steel exports down 37%, imports up 1.5% from April 2018 to January 2019

(Asia Pacific): Indian finished steel exports decreased by 37.3% to 5 million tonnes from April 2018 to January 2019, according to the Joint Plant Committee (JPC) recent release. The country exported 8.33 million tonnes of finished steel in the same period a year ago. Meanwhile, finished steel imports increased by 1.5% to 6.55 million tonnes compared to the same period a year ago.

UAE presents its first autonomous car 

(Middle East): UAE based Luxury sports car developer W Motors unveiled MUSE Level 5, its first fully autonomous car in a pre-launch function. The car will also be presented at Shanghai 2019 in April this year. The first phase of the new production facility of the car is expected to be completed in the last quarter of 2019. The car is expected to be on roads before the Expo 2020 Dubai. However, Commodity Inside understands that it is highly unlikely that the car would reach commercial production anytime before 2026.