The SteelOrbis 2020 Spring Conference & 82nd IREPAS Meeting held in Belgrade on March 1-3 started with the opening speech of Murat Eryılmaz, general manager of SteelOrbis. Summarizing the current situation, he said that the business environment has improved despite trade measures and that positive news coming from China were supporting steel prices. Chinese steel exports have continued to decline. “However, the coronavirus has created a huge uncertainty, which has had a negative impact on this meeting unfortunately,” Mr. Eryılmaz said.
The SteelOrbis general manager went on to say that the current period is a very difficult one for world trade. Profitability and geopolitical issues are creating uncertainties for the future, while the coronavirus has become a serious concern for China and the surrounding region. He pointed out that nobody can predict the length of the stoppages in China, and so the effects of the virus may not become fully clear for a while.