Asian steel market to see further price rises
Chinese flat products inventories are low and consumption is satisfactory, according to MEPS Steel Prices Online.
Chinese flat products inventories are low and consumption is satisfactory, according to MEPS Steel Prices Online.
Following Baosteel's lead, several other major steel makers have now lifted selling values.
Japanese steel prices have steadied over the past few months and are likely to remain stable through most of the first quarter.
The South Korean economy is slow but steel consumption is forecast to keep firm during 2005.
Prices in Taiwan are expected to rise in the first quarter as the mills try to get ahead of cost rises in the New Year.
The further strong rise in the value of most Asian steel prices has prompted MEPS to lift its forecasts.
The analyst still believes that further price advances are expected early in the New Year and should extend into early Spring.
However, a steady reduction is predicted over the last three trimesters as oversupply develops in the region.
Exchange rates also had an impact on long products.
Wire rod and merchant bar values slipped a little in national currencies in China and Taiwan in MEPS' December reports.
These declines were more than offset by the decrease in the value of the US dollar.
MEPS maintains its 12-month forecast for wire rod - expecting a slow but steady fall in the coming months as oversupply develops in the region.
MEPS' predictions for 2005 for the remaining three products show a price decline through the Winter period with the figures stabilising due to improved construction later in the year.
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