Iron Ore Prices Gained In April, But Few Others Were Up in Steel.

The Platts suite of iron ore prices increased about 6% in April over March, but coking coal and scrap declined slightly and most other steel products also fell compared to last month.

After prices slipped nearly 9% in March, iron ore recovered some ground in April as the Platts benchmark price assessment of 62%-Fe fines averaged $181.35/dry mt CFR north China, up 5.6% from $171.75/dmt in March. Users, however, showed more of a penchant for lower-grade material, reflected by the 58%-Fe assessment, which picked up 7.6% to $156.78/dmt CFR north China from March's 145.72/dmt.

Ferrous scrap -- the other key steelmaking metallics ingredient -- registered slight declines in four of the six grades assessed by Platts. Heavy melting scrap in April was down 1.1% to $443.78/mt CFR Turkey, down 1.3% to $411.53/mt FOB Rotterdam, and HMS delivered to US East Coast docks dipped nearly 1% to $400/lt compared to March.

The European A3 scrap grade posted the largest month-on-month decline of nearly 4%, dropping to $408.33/mt FOB Black Sea. Shredded scrap grades were essentially flat in April with the US domestic price averaging $455/lt delivered to Midwest mills compared with March's $454.89/lt.

Metallurgical coal price assessments were also slightly weaker in April. The Platts price for hard coking coal 64% CSR slipped to $300.85/mt FOB Australia from $303/mt in March.

MOST FINISHED STEEL PRODUCT PRICES DETERIORATED IN APRIL

Both hot-rolled and cold-rolled coil prices were down across-the-board in April compared with March. Weathering the biggest hit was European imported HRC, which fell 8.3% to Eur540.83/mt CIF Antwerp from nearly Eur590/mt in March.

The US remained the strongest region for HRC pricing, but also dipped for the first time since November 2010. The Platts April assessment for US-made HRC averaged $862.75/st ex-works Indiana, down nearly 1% from $870.43/st in March. European-made HRC fell 3.5% on the month to Eur611.67/mt from Eur633.91/mt.

Rebar price assessments declined most sharply in Northwest Europe, falling almost 4% to Eur536.89/mt in April. The key export price of rebar slid 1.3% to $660.83/mt FOB Turkey. Billet pricing also declined on month, down 2.4% to $600/mt FOB Black Sea. A lone uptick in rebar was registered for imported US material, gaining 1.6% to $652.50/st CIF Houston.

Among the few finished product price increases, the biggest in April was achieved by US-made carbon plate, which gained 4.5% on March to an average Platts assessment of $1,082/st ex-works US Southeast mill.

Imported plate to Europe, however, declined 8% to Eur624.72/mt CIF Antwerp. US-produced plate is protected by tariffs, owing to anti-dumping duties on material from India at 42.39% (deposit rates for SAIL and all other Indian producers), and countervailing deposits of 12.82% for SAIL and others. Anti-dumping orders on Chinese carbon plate in the US amount to 128.59% for cut-to-length product from Chinese steelmakers Wuhan and Liaoning; 38.16% for Shanghai Pudong; 30.68% for Anshan Steel; 30.51% for Baosteel; and 128.59% for plate from most other Chinese steelmakers.

Indonesian, Italian, Japanese and Korean plate is also subject to AD/CVD duties in the US market.

The dollar weakened further in April with the exchange rate to the euro used by Platts averaging Eur0.69 compared with Eur0.71 in March, Eur0.73 in February, Eur0.75 in January and Eur0.76 in December.

Source : platts.com