30 August 2022 – EU natural gas prices fell significantly on Monday. Looking at the US market, but still very high. What does this mean for stainless steel prices? North American industry investing in equipment. Strong demand for robots from the automotive sector. Record sales for the third quarter in a row.
EU natural gas prices down 20%
From Friday, August 26 to Monday, August 29, benchmark prices for European natural gas fell significantly by around 20%. This is probably due to the significantly higher levels in German natural gas storage facilities, but also to the announcement by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen that she intends to reform the EU energy market.
Stainless steel and energy prices
However, if we now compare US natural gas prices, which are currently significantly lower than in the EU, and US stainless steel prices with European prices, it quickly becomes clear that the future EU energy costs still have to be priced in by the EU stainless producers. In theory, this would mean another explosion in stainless steel prices. Regardless of whether EU gas prices have fallen or not.
US industry invests in new equipment – robots set sales records
According to US media reports, sales in the US robot industry have set records for the third quarter in succession.
In particular, the demand for robots is said to be found in the US automotive industry – in Q2 2022, 59% of orders came from there. According to the report, 41% were distributed among Food & Consumer Goods, where there was strong demand for automated systems and logistics solutions in the area of e-commerce.
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