In April, the Asian flat steel market, dominated by China, continued to rebound. In April, China's overall domestic steel price level was $637, up 18 dollars from last month and 3% from the previous month. The price level of steel sheet rose 15 dollars from last month to 632 dollars, up 2.5%. China's steel market is still showing a steady upward trend.
Capacity restriction policy and strong demand are the basis for China's domestic steel market to keep rising steadily after encountering global steel trade barriers. In India, the performance of the steel industry in fiscal year 2019 still deserves special attention. India's 106.4 million tons of crude steel output makes it the second largest producer of crude steel in the world, surpassing Japan. In fiscal year 2019, the apparent consumption of finished steel in India reached 97.5 million tons, with an annual growth rate of 7.5%. It ranked first among the world's steel consumers and was close to the consumption level of the United States. The country is likely to become the world's second largest steel consumer by the end of 2019.
In addition, rising prices of raw materials such as iron ore also support the Asian steel market. In South Korea, POSCO expects iron ore and coal prices to continue to rise in the future, squeezing steel producers' profit margins.
Overall, the Chinese market has supported the Asian steel market to remain strong. It is expected that prices in the Asian flat steel market will continue to rise in May.
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