Resumen de Steel market woes are weighing on refractories

Industrial Minerals

• Pressure is continuing to mount on the refractories sector while its main market – the steel industry – suffers from overcapacity, trade tensions and emissions reduction targets, Rose Pengelly finds.

  According to US-based procurement intelligence firm Beroe Inc, trade in refractories in 2019 was largely a buyers’ market, due to supply surpluses and strong rivalry between around 1,500 refractory suppliers globally, effectively giving consumers the power to dictate prices for some products. [...]competition to sell refractories to steel producers has never been fiercer. Given the UK exports half the steel it produces and 70% of that goes to the EU, anything that impacts on our ability to trade with the EU is going to have a major impact,” the spokesperson said. “Because of the trade wars, there are a lot of protectionist barriers that have gone up. Added to this risk is the fact that it is becoming increasingly difficult to resolve trade spats. [...]recently, trading nations could appeal to the World Trade Organization (WTO) on behalf of unhappy industries to arbitrate disputes.