Asian Average Carbon Steel Prices - Latest Forecasts from MEPS

In the flat products category, speculative purchasing appears to have halted in China. In Japan, the arrival of offshore tonnage is starting to impact on the general market. Contract business is strong in South Korea but the distribution sector remains sluggish. The picture in Taiwan is similar.

The Average Flat Products Price for Asia is down in April - mainly due to exchange rate movements. The difficulties in the distribution sector across much of the region has prompted us to downrate our forecast for the next twelve months. The slight upturn anticipated over the next few months due to higher costs may not materialise. We now anticipate a reasonably stable period up to the Autumn - followed by a small but steady price reduction to the end of the review period (assuming no major currency shifts).

Light long product prices fell in April in China. Japanese construction activity is beginning to show positive signs. South Korean demand is badly affected by declining business investment. Taiwanese activity is slow but some increases have been obtained to recover higher costs.

The Average Asian Long Products Price fell in April. We have downrated our forecast due to the poor state of the market. However, we still predict a modest upturn in price in the near term for seasonal reasons, mainly in the rebar category, prior to a decline in the Winter months into 2006.

Source: MEPS - STEEL PRICES ON-LINE (regional steel price tables & forecasts)

http://www.meps.co.uk