World steel prices fell 4 percent in March

Flat product prices continue to fall in the United States. Imports from all over the world were able to quickly gain a share of this market, which is encouraged by the strong dollar and slow economic growth in the countries of Europe and Asia. Internal capacity utilization fell sharply to below 70 percent as orders from local factories declined.

The Chinese market remains weak, the anticipated improvement in demand has not materialized, and prices continued their negative trend, which is also associated with the constantly decreasing price of iron ore. Overcapacity remains a major problem, creating oversupply in an economy struggling with growth. This leads to an increase in imports of steel products.

The slowdown in activity and the rise in inventories put pressure on steel prices in Japan. Consumption of steel products fell for the fifth month in a row. Export volumes are also declining. After a sharp increase in imports to South Korea during 2014, they began to decline, while volumes from China declined significantly. There is also an internal surplus due to the number of new production facilities that have been brought into service in recent years. All this still weighs heavily on the price of the product.

Amid weak demand, Taiwanese steel mills decided to cut domestic prices for April-May shipments by an average of 5.2 percent, compared with data released in March.

In Western Europe, purchasing activity has been slow over the past month to lift the flat steel price baseline. Nonetheless, local steelmakers have formed fairly good order books, thanks to improved export activities amid a weak euro. In Poland, consumption remains reasonable, but imports continue to occupy a significant market share. There is some recovery in the Czech Republic, whose economy is slowly recovering.