Week in Review: Falling Oil Price, Steel Production and USMCA

• Sohrab Darabshaw covered India’s view of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
• The oil price has plunged — MetalMiner’s Stuart Burns looked into the reasons why.
• October global crude steel production jumped 5.8% year over year, according to data in a recent World Steel Association report.
• A recent Section 301 report by the United States Trade Representative on China’s trade practices painted a familiar picture.
• Through the first 10 months of the year, steel imports were down 11% compared with the first 10 months of 2017.
• There is talk of a potential merger between two Chinese steelmakers whose combined annual capacity would exceed that of the U.S. as a whole.
• Housing starts in October were up from the previous month.
• General Motors’ announcement this week of plant closures and a 15% workforce reduction could be a sign of cost-saving measures to come for other automotive brands.
• Several CEOs spoke earlier this week during a panel discussion event in Washington, D.C., focusing primarily on the impact of the U.S.’s steel and aluminum tariffs.
• Lastly, in case you missed the news earlier today, the U.S., Canada and Mexico signed the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement during the G20 summit in Buenos Aires (the trade deal still needs to be ratified by each country’s legislature).

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