Reuters reported that steelmakers from
Asia to Europe are facing increasing pressure from a rise in cheap imports as
Russia and Ukraine, armed with weaker currencies, join China in pushing surplus
output on to world markets.
The flood of low priced material and weak demand
will keep a lid on global prices, already at their weakest level since 2009,
threatening the future of producers elsewhere and raising the risk of protectionist
measures.
Mr RK Goyal MD at Kalyani Steels Limited said
that "We are feeling hopeless, totally hopeless. I am not sure we will be
able to survive. Some of our customers are demanding a heavy reduction in
prices."
According to consultancy CRU, Russia and Ukraine
boosted their steel shipments abroad to 46.4 million tonnes in 2014 nearly half
of the record 93.78 million tonnes of steel shipped by China, the world's top
exporter.
Mr Dmitry Popov, who watches the steel sector in
the Commonwealth of Independent States at CRU said that "One could
legitimately ask whether Ukraine and Russia are becoming a new China in the
export markets, not in terms of volume, but in terms of their impact on
price."
Source : Reuters