The busy season which is coming and the stock situation in last week have given much confidence to China’s steel market. As a result, many industry insiders have had optimistic remarks about steel price in September, especially the price of long products.

It is reported that Brazilian Mills are aggressively offering HRC to various EU destinations at price levels said to be around USD 630 per tonne to USD 640 per tonne CFR FO

It equates to EUR 490 per tonne to EIUR 500 per tonne CFR FO.

The offers will definitely have a negative impact on the attempt of EU steel mills to increase prices by EUR 30 per tonne for October December quarter.

Japanese steel giant Nippon Steel announced that it has suspended galvanized steel pipe deliveries, since it has been discovered that galvanized steel pipes processed at its Kimitsu Works were insufficiently galvanized.

It said “As a result, we have suspended the delivery of those pipes from August 25th 2010.”

Automakers posted their weakest US August sales in 27 years, underscoring uncertainty about the strength of the recovery in the world's largest economy.

Sales dropped by 21% from the government incentive-fueled boom a year ago. Monthly auto sales data represents one of the first and broadest based snapshots of consumer demand.

Bloomberg reported that coking coal and iron ore sold by BHP Billiton Ltd and Rio Tinto Group will post the first price decline in three quarters as steelmakers cut orders on weaker demand from automakers and builders in China.

Quarterly prices between steelmakers and iron ore producers are set based on three month index averages on Platts, the Steel Index and Metal Bulletin. Most Chinese customers use Platts.

Australia Associated Press quoted global mining giant Rio Tinto as saying that iron ore prices would fall 13.3% in the fourth quarter.

Mr Sam Walsh company iron ore chief executive said that prices would fall to USD 127 per tonne FOB in the last three months of the year in accordance with a new mechanism based on the average index price during the previous quarter.