Last week most market observers were waiting for the Chinese steel sector to restart, indicating further a direction to global prices and sentiment. Nevertheless a series of adverse weather conditions in North America, Europe and the CIS weighed somewhat on the already long delivery books of some key steel suppliers.

In North America, the winter storms impacted deliveries and markets mainly in the Midwest and the South, stopping in some cases activities at carmakers such as Ford in Missouri.

Further South, in Mexico, the unexpected winter storms forced Altos Hornos de México (Ahmsa) to stop production, losing more than 20,000 tonnes of crude steel production during the downtime. The impact of the stoppage has spread on to the supplier’s clients, delaying payments and creating a possible undersupply environment.