HBIS slashes longs prices for mid-Nov sales
With the latest adjustments, HBIS now offers its HRB 400E 12mm dia rebar at Yuan 4,700/t (down by Yuan 160/t from the November 1-10 period), its HPB300 8-10mm dia high speed wire rod is priced Yuan 60/t lower at Yuan 5,360/t, and its HRB 400E 8-10mm dia bar-in-coil is Yuan 130/t cheaper at Yuan 4,760/t, all including 16% VAT.
The northern giant’s pricing policy contrasts with that of East China’s long-products market leader Jiangsu Shagang Group which last weekend decided to hold its price for HRB400 16-25mm dia rebar stable at Yuan 4,780/t including the 16% VAT for November 11-20 but would clip Yuan 80/t off its ex-works prices of wire rod and bar-in-coil, as Mysteel reported.
The cuts announced on November 13 are the first HBIS has made to its longs prices since October, Mysteel notes. “Noticeable declines in demand in North China have weighed on northern steelmakers recently,” a Hebei-based long steel agent said. “Many traders are scaling down their procurement and some are thinking about maybe taking holidays!” he told Mysteel. But he admitted that traders would “consider” replenishing their stocks if prices drop to an “appropriate level”.
However, the agent still grumbled that the list prices HBIS is asking are higher than market prices, with traders now offering rebars at Yuan 4,300-4,400/t including 16% VAT.
The existing spread between the prices tabled by mills and those demanded by traders in Hebei is regarded as the “psychological threshold” for steelmakers, indicating their refusal to surrender their initiative to dominate the prices, a second Hebei-based industry source explained.
“Once the mills significantly and rapidly reduce their list prices, the market would take this as a signal that steel prices are about to collapse,” he explained.
Actually, North China’s physical rebar price has been losing ground since the start of this month. As of Wednesday, Mysteel’s daily price for HRB 400 20mm dia rebar in Beijing had reached Yuan 4,300/t including 16% VAT, some Yuan 247/t below the national average price of rebar as assessed by Mysteel the same day and back to the level it was three months ago.
HBIS long steel list prices for November 11-20 sales
Product (Unit: Yuan/t) |
Spec |
Diameter (mm) |
Nov 11-20 |
Nov 1-10 |
Change |
Rebar |
HRB400 |
12 |
4,700 |
4,860 |
-160 |
Bar-in-coil |
HRB400 |
8-10 |
4,760 |
4,890 |
-130 |
High-speed wire rod |
HPB300 |
8-10 |
5,360 |
5,420 |
-60 |
Note: All the listed prices are EXW and include the 16% VAT.
Written by Venus Wang, wangyi@mysteel.com
Edited by Russ McCulloch, russ.mcculloch@mysteel.com
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