At the SteelOrbis 2018 Spring Conference & 78th IREPAS Meeting held in Warsaw on May 6-8, Peter Marcus, founder and managing partner of World Steel Dynamics, stated that there is no doubt that Chinese steel demand is going down. “Once there is oversupply and operating rates are down, they [Chinese] will begin to have sizable capacity reduction; however, they will not cut capacity enough to not to export,” he said.
According to Mr. Marcus, China has always been the saver of the steel industry, during the 2008 crisis China rescued the global steel industry with its high demand and now the global industry is experiencing a golden age in terms of profitability as China closed down induction furnaces, resulting in tight supply, thereby supporting rebar prices.
Commenting on the Section 232 tariffs in the US, Peter Marcus said that it is not going to be very successful. He warned that steel prices are so high in the US domestic market that, if mills raise prices even more, there is going to be an avalanche of foreign steel as exemptions have been granted for some countries under Section 232.
