MONTHLY: Pressure on China's semis market to persist in November

China's market for semi-finished steel is likely to remain under pressure from oversupply and weakening cost support in November, keeping prices of major semis items such as billet and slab hovering around recent lows. A potential contraction in supply in the second half of the month could lend some support to prices however, according to Mysteel's latest monthly report.

Prices of semi-finished steel products lost ground in October amid weakening market fundamentals. On October 30 Mysteel assessed the price of Q235 150mm square billet in Tangshan in North China's Hebei province – the hub of China's billet industry – at Yuan 2,890/tonne ($433/t) EXW, down by Yuan 90/t