gui yong nian/Adobe Stock

Before we head into the weekend, let’s take a look back at the week that was and some of the metals storylines here on MetalMiner:

Need buying strategies for steel? Request your two-month free trial of MetalMiner’s Outlook

• Earlier this month, President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi chatted about U.S.-India trade relations.
• Stuart Burns on the E.U.’s decision to impose new steel quotas in an effort to combat diverted steel supplies.
• Businesses will have to reckon with the impact of climate change in the coming years, particularly its impact on supply chains and risk mitigation.
• In case you missed it, we released our January Monthly Metals Index (MMI) report earlier this week, with coverage of 10 MMI subindexes.
• Irene Martinez Canorea looked back at developments in the world of metals through the first half of January.
• The U.S. steel sector posted a capacity utilization rate of 79.5% through Jan. 12.
• Two major automakers announced a new alliance.
• A resolution to block the Trump administration’s decision to ease sanctions on Russian entities fell just short.
• The Brexit drama continued this week with a historic defeat of Prime Minister Theresa May’s proposed divorce deal from the European Union.

MetalMiner’s Annual Outlook provides 2019 buying strategies for carbon steel

Zerophoto/Adobe Stock

This morning in metals news, Chinese iron ore futures hit their highest price point in 10 months, Turkey’s steel sector takes another hit, and copper and zinc hit their 2019 highs.

Need buying strategies for steel? Request your two-month free trial of MetalMiner’s Outlook

Iron Ore Rises

Is optimism building vis-a-vis a potential resolution to the ongoing U.S.-China trade dispute?

Apparently, yes (whether that leads to an actual diplomatic breakthrough is something else entirely).

And, according to Reuters, that optimism has contributed to sending Chinese iron ore futures up to a more than 10-month high, with Dalian ore gaining as much as 2.6%.

Strain on Turkish Steel

The Turkish steel sector was already under pressure after the 2018 diplomatic standoff over the detention of American pastor Andrew Brunson. Brunson was eventually released in October, but not before the Trump administration in August announced it would double its Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum with respect to imports from Turkey.

The move thus raised the duties to 50% and 20%, respectively, on a Turkish steel sector that was already suffering after the initial 25% steel duty was imposed in March 2018. U.S. imports of Turkish steel through the first half of 2018 were down 56% compared with the first half of 2017.

The hits keep on coming for the Turkish steel sector, as E.U. member states this week voted to impose steel quotas extending until 2021.

“Our export markets have disappeared, the local market hardly exists, we’ve got lots of capacity and no market,” a London-based Turkish steel trader was quoted by Reuters as saying.

Copper, Zinc Surging

The price of copper and zinc on Friday reached their highest levels in the year to date, CNBC reported.

MetalMiner’s Annual Outlook provides 2019 buying strategies for carbon steel

As with the Dalian iron ore surge, markets are seizing on optimism that a U.S.-China accord is drawing nearer.