In the past week, Russia lowered its rolled-product export quotations, including cold-rolled coils, hot-rolled coils, and slabs, in order to compete with cheap Asian hot-rolled coils in the market.

As in Europe, steel prices in the Italian market showed a notable decline. Although European steel mills continued negotiating long-term contracts with car manufacturers in an active way, deals are still not settled yet.

In the US market, during the past week, few trading activities could be observed in the hot-rolled spot market. While local finished steel prices dropped, import quotations were also scarce. Meanwhile, Mexican products were more competitive than US local products due to lower prices and shorter delivery times.