DAILY: China's rebar market loses steam amid dull downstream demand

China's rebar market lost steam on June 16, with prices in both spot and futures markets ending the brief uptrend and retreating to some extent. The decline was mainly driven by subdued end-user demand amid frequent rainfall across most regions of South China. This weakness was also reflected in a sharp fall seen in spot trading volumes of construction steel products, including rebar, on the same day.

Mysteel's assessment of the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar came in at Yuan 3,384/tonne ($501/t) including the 13% VAT on Tuesday, snapping a gaining streak for two consecutive workdays and pulling back by Yuan 9/t from the previous day. In the derivatives market, futures prices of key ferrous commodities in