Cold June, Not hot July. Russian sheet steel and welded pipe market: June 9-18

Low demand was a problem, now it is becoming a curse for the Russian sheet steel market. Consumer activity has completely died down. In turn, distributors are reducing purchases of steel products from plants. Metallurgical plants, of course, are reducing output and/or exporting more rolled products, but the volumes of warehouse stocks at trading houses and independent metal traders, at a minimum, are not decreasing.

Some metallurgical companies have not abandoned the idea of raising factory prices in July - at least for certain items. However, this clearly does not correspond to the objective market situation. Metal traders foresee a further weakening of sheet metal. Welded pipes may rise slightly in some places, but this growth is unstable. In other regions, on the contrary, they are getting cheaper.

Some market participants are raising the issue of revising the prices of plants, and not only for June, but also for the past months. And this correction looks quite justified. There is no hope for an improvement in the market situation until a radical change in the monetary policy. But for now the economy is moving along the same course, which is leading to a further reduction in demand for rolled products.

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