Following a fire (Video) at Taiwanese steel producer Yieh United Steel Corp (YUSCO), new offers for stainless steel from Taiwan have again been delayed in many areas. Germany’s export engine is humming for the eleventh month in succession. And iron ore continues to rise rapidly. Iron ore futures in Singapore at over $226 per ton on Friday.

After YUSCO fire, stainless steel offers from Taiwan delayed
A burning oil tank containing 70,000 liters of grinding at Taiwanese stainless steel producer Yieh United Steel Corp (YUSCO) has led to the Kaohsiung plant being temporarily closed by authorities until investigations are completed. The fire at the YUSCO steel plant was extinguished after 2.5 hours. One person suffered smoke injuries.
Many offers were suspended during golden week, with the hope that offers could be expected again across the board today. Now, stainless steel offers from Taiwan are delayed in large parts again.
Source: taiwannews.com.tw
German businesses grow for eleventh month in a row
German companies defied the coronavirus crisis and increased their exports for the eleventh consecutive month, data from the statistics office showed Friday. Export growth was 1.2%, twice as much as economists had expected.
But imports also rose: Germany imported 6.5% more in value terms in March than in the previous month, well above the forecast. This pushed the trade balance to its lowest level since April last year.
The increase in exports pushed the trade balance down to 14.3 billion euros ($17.24 billion), the lowest level since April of last year.($1 = 0.8295 euros).

Source: destatis.com
Iron Ore up 10% in minutes
As Bloomberg reports, the iron ore market is heating up. “Supply is still not able to meet that strong demand,” said one analyst. In Singapore, iron ore futures jumped to record highs of more than $226 a ton. Which puts them up more than 40% since the beginning of the year.
Causes for the rapid rise are seen in disappointing U.S. jobs data, huge demand on China and the rest of the world, and a possible scare by steelmakers stocking up on iron ore as a precaution to forestall further price increases in 2021.
Source: bloomberg.com
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