In the last session of the SteelOrbis Fall 2012 Conference & 67th IREPAS Meeting held in Munich on September 30-October 2, suppliers and producers of long steel products and billet, as well as traders and raw material suppliers, shared the conclusions reached at their special committee meetings regarding the current situation in the markets as well as their expectations for the near future with the general participants at the event.
Mohammed Al Saadi, chairman of the rebar and wire rod producers' committee, stated that the local Turkish market seems strong, with demand at good levels in the market. While the situation in Qatar and other Arab countries seems healthy with high production capacity utilization ratios, demand in these countries is also good on the back of ongoing investments and projects. In the meantime, whereas political issues in Syria and Iran have been affecting the business in a negative way, everybody hopes the situation will be resolved in the short term, Mr. Al Saadi said.
Regarding Europe and especially Italy and Spain, almost 65 percent of these countries' production is exported. The view of the rebar and wire rod producers' committee is that the US and Carribean markets seem stable, while global market conditions in general are likely to continue in their current state until next year.
The committee considers the main market concern to be Chinese supply, which also has a psychological impact on business.