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Our Advance/Decliner Index increased to 70% from 66% last week, and has now risen two weeks in a row since falling below the critical 50% level.  Strength was most evident in the MENA region, the CIS and East Asia as prices have rebounded mainly on the back of higher scrap prices as well as modestly improved demand in some countries following China’s Golden Week holidays.

Our China Index remained flattish at 53% compared with 50% the week before as the Chinese market is still treading water.  We suspect the usual post-holiday pickup in the country is not yet appearing largely because the holidays were so early this year and winter is still blunting construction demand.

In the global market, flat product pricing continues to remain strong, while long product prices showed a meaningful improvement last week as international scrap prices continued to climb and iron ore prices have now rebounded over 6% in the last 10 days.

Our full report provides further thoughts about global steel pricing trends and our outlook as well as implications for steel equities.

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