Steel production holds the key to the fate of the bulk market, providing the lift to the iron ore trades that has proved the necessary condition of today's bulker boom. But argua-bly the coal trades are the sufficient condition for such mesmerising freight highs. Owners will take encouragement that world crude steel output remained near record levels in the first month of the year. The International Iron and Steel Institute (IISI) registered a world output of 81.7M tonnes in January, 8% up on the same month last year (see Indicators, p50).
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