Week in Review: Pressure on steel; falling oil prices; housing starts plunge

Fouad Egbaria | Posted on April 17, 2020 |

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, including coverage of: steel prices; container traffic trends; housing starts; oil prices; E.U. anti-dumping duties on stainless steel; and much more.
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Chemaf announced it would suspend operations its Usoke copper-cobalt processing plant in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Major steelmakers have idled blast furnaces and laid off workers amid the coronavirus pandemic.
South Africa’s lockdown has shaken up the ferrochrome sector and, in turn, delayed the fixing of stainless steel surcharges.
Stuart Burns weighed in on the pandemic’s impact on container traffic and what it could potentially mean for shipping lines.
The COVID-19 pandemic is also expected to hit India’s iron ore export market.
The E.U. has slapped anti-dumping duties on stainless steel imports from a trio of Asian countries.
U.S. industrial production fell 5.4% in March.
Burns recapped the latest developments in the oil price saga, including the recent OPEC+ output cut agreement.
U.S. housing start activity dropped significantly last month as states implemented coronavirus mitigation measures.