International Steel Market Daily: The Red Sea Crisis Continues To Heat Up, South American Plate Prices Rise Overall

On January 12th, the United States and Britain launched a joint attack on the Yemeni Husai armed forces, leading to further escalation of conflicts in the Red Sea region and continued pressure on freight costs. In addition, the month on month increase in mainstream export quotes from China has driven up the overall import prices of South American sheet materials this week. In this context, Brazilian National Steel Company (CSN) announced a price increase of 5.00-6.25% for hot rolled steel coils, cold rolled steel coils, and hot-dip galvanized coils starting from mid January. Considering that China’s steel exports to Brazil may decline this year, the company expects its profit margin to begin to rebound and local market prices to further increase.
  On Friday, Runfei Steel assessed the mainstream import prices for South American hot coils as 640-680 US dollars per ton of CFR, cold coils as 730-750 US dollars per ton of CFR, and hot-dip galvanizing as 740-770 US dollars per ton of CFR, with weekly increases of 10 US dollars per ton, 30 US dollars per ton, and 10 US dollars per ton, respectively.