The biggest macro-economic news might be the
slight recovery of the European economies. The Eurozone registered a PMI,
Purchasing Managers Index, of 51.4 in august 2013. This is the best result of
the Eurozone in the past 26 months. Germany, the United Kingdom and Italy in
particular did pretty good.
Even Greece had a PMI of 48.7. This is
still a decrease, yet is it the best economic result Greece has seen in the
past 44 months. This is proof that the EU is leaving the dark footprint of the
crisis in the past. The improving economic situation is slightly showing its
effect on the European steel market. Prices for both long and flat products
have been rising.
However, a large part of this recovery seems to
have a sentimental nature, rather than it actually being an increase of the
demand on the market. But these little rays of hope should be embraced. In
March I expected the US economy to
continue this
positive “flow”. The same now goes for the European Market.
Large European mills have announced price
rises. Because our European mills didn’t respond to the American price rises a
few months ago, it seems that there is an option to pass on a part of this
increase to the market. We will just have to wait and see how much the prices
will actually rise.
If the European steel mills manage to (a) force
the European market to a serious price rise and (b) attract a higher demand for
steel products on the market, a rise of the import of steel products will be
the result. The somewhat weaker Rupee could result in an import flow of cheaper
steel products (HRC) from India to Europe.
China’s steel industry PMI for August rose for
the second consecutive month. The index went from 52,5 in July to 53, 4 in
August, a rise of 0,9. Despite this rise have the Chinese inland prices for
both rebar and HRC gone down in September. This didn’t have a major effect on
the steel mills margins because the prices for iron ore had gone down as
well. The 3rd quarter had significantly better margins compared to the 1st and 2nd quarter of 2013. This means that
steel has been produced in abundance and that the capacity has been expanded.
Based on these positive yet slight and early
messages from Europe, could the European market be a potentially interesting
output destination for the Chinese? This could lead to a flow of cheap Chinese
steel to Europe.
Are you looking for a partner for your import
of goods from the Far East, for example from China? Steel Solutions B.V. is
your partner. Apart from very short transit times and a high quality, we offer
you affordable prices. We also offer you the possibility to store your products
in one of our warehouses. Value Added Logistics (VAL) such as repacking,
palletizing and guidance of the processing (decoiling, slitting and pickling)
can all be trusted to us. Distribution of your steel throughout Europe is also
included in our service package. Feel free to contact us if you would like
to have more information.
CEO
Wibo Feijen.
Wibo Feijen.
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