Overview
Global steel prices fell close to 30 percent over the past year. The slowdown of the Chinese economy had a direct impact on the global steel demand. With the slowdown, China’s steel demand peaked and inventories piled up. To offload the inventories, Chinese steel producers started an export overdrive. Cheaper Chinese exports flooded global steel markets and dragged down steels prices everywhere. Countries across the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific announced a slew of anti-dumping measures against Chinese steel imports. In light of these new dynamics, the key questions for global steel procurement and category sourcing managers are:
- When will prices bottom out?
- How much inventory to keep?
- Will there be expanded anti-dumping duties or even a ban on Chinese imports?
- Which location is the most competitive to procure steel?
- Is it time to renegotiate contracts?
In this white paper, GEP’s experts break down the factors controlling global steel prices and their impact for steel buyers. The paper also provides short- and long-term steel price forecasts, and outlines region-wise sourcing strategies based on the new market dynamics to help enterprise procurement teams optimize their steel spend.