SteelOrbis has been informed that the local price levels for ex-Turkey HRS in the UK market have shown an increase of £15/mt ($19/mt) and are currently standing at £450/mt ($571/mt) ex-warehouse, excluding VAT; meanwhile, UK mills are offering HRS to the local market at £400/mt ($507/mt) delivered to customer, excluding VAT. All prices are for 60-day deferred payment, on actual weight basis. Meanwhile, ex-China HRS in the UK market has shown a decrease of £45/mt ($57/mt) and is currently standing at £380/mt ($482/mt) delivered to customer, excluding VAT, also for 60-day deferred payment.
The domestic HRS prices for the ex-stock materials of the English producers have decreased by £55/mt ($70/mt) as compared to the past three weeks. The UK domestic market, which had been showing softer declines as compared to the other regions of Europe, is now no longer seeing such a relatively soft decrease trend. Demand is on a slack trend in the UK domestic market. Buyers have not returned to the market yet, while the tightening of bank credits has been creating difficulties as regards payment terms. UK GDP has shown a decline of 0.5 percent in the third quarter of 2008 - the first drop seen over the past six months. Also, it is expected that the GDP will decrease by 1.1 percent in 2009. According to the OECD data, in November house prices have dropped back by 2.6 percent as compared to October and have shown a decrease of 16.1 percent year on year. This decrease represents the biggest decline since 1992.
As an important indicator for the future direction of industrial production, the JP Morgan Global Manufacturing PMI (Purchaser Managers' Index) in November plummeted to 36.4 percent. The average index for the fifteen eurozone countries in November stood at 35.6 percent; meanwhile, in the UK the index decreased to 34.4 percent, dropping below the average for Europe (all rates under fifty percent reflect a shrinkage).
The UK pound has lost 4.88 percent in value against the US dollar since November 12, 2008. Despite the recovery seen very recently, overall in 2008 the pound has been experiencing its worst year since 1972. This development has led to a certain anxiety on the part of exporters.
£1 = US$ 1.26835