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Mysteel’s national average HRB400 20mm dia rebar benchmark price hovered at Yuan 3,650/tonne ($516.3/t) including the 13% VAT as of Thursday, nudging up Yuan 1/t on day. The benchmark has remained rangebound since mid-March, Mysteel Global noted.
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Ordinary steel inventories held by Chinese traders declined further over the period of March 20-26, thanks to continuing firm downstream demand, new data indicated. However, traders still showed some hesitation about stepping up prices for now, Mysteel Global has learned from the market.
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China’s national average benchmark price reversed up Yuan 8/tonne ($1.1/t) on day to Yuan 3,949/t, including the 13% VAT as of March 25, according to Mysteel’s database. Sales stabilised with better trading on the same day.
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Mysteel’s national average price for HRB400 20mm rebar benchmark reversed down by Yuan 25/tonne ($3.5/t) from last Friday to reach Yuan 3,647/t including the 13% VAT as of March 23. Trading has slowed down and market sentiment has turned more cautious, Mysteel Global noted.
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Chinese export steel prices softened further after Beijing announced increases to export tax rebates on some steel items from March 20, but export transactions did not improve much despite the price drops, export sources tell Mysteel Global. Global steel prices fell faster and the few buyers with interest turned to cheaper products, they explained.
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China’s domestic spot steel prices kept increasing over March 16-20, as the demand from the downstream industries had been steadily improving, while steel futures prices retreated on the market uncertainties amid a mix of positive and negative news, Mysteel Global noted.
Rebar: China’s national average HRB400 20mm dia rebar benchmark price
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China’s national average benchmark price for HRB400 20mm dia rebar reversed down Yuan 13/tonne ($1.8/t) on day to Yuan 3,664/t, including the 13% VAT, as of March 19, mainly impacted by the bearish rebar futures market, according to Mysteel’s daily price tracker.
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Total inventories of the five major steel items held by Chinese traders finally entered de-stocking territory after steadily increasing for nearly three months, Mysteel Global has learned. And it was improving demand, not production cuts, that did it.
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China’s shipbuilders saw their new vessel orders increase by 41.4% on year over January-February, according to the latest release by China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry (CANSI) published on March 18. The leap in orders during this year’s first two months was mainly due to the low base for the same period last year, however.
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Steel industry insiders in China responsible for domestic steel business responded rather coolly to Tuesday night’s announcement from the country’s Ministry of Finance that tax rebates for exports including steel products are to be increased, Mysteel Global has found. Some expressed reservations about whether larger rebates would contribute anything to boosting the domestic steel market.
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Chinese steel exporters are finding it increasingly hard to close deals with overseas buyers recently, market sources admit. Strong bearish sentiment exits in international steel markets as countries brace for slowing domestic economic growth, while in China the recovery in domestic sales has reduced the willingness of mills and traders to chase overseas business, Mysteel Global understands.
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China’s rebar price increased further and faster on March 16 to hit nearly one-month high, mainly thanks to better trading on the same day. Mysteel’s national average price for HRB400 20mm dia rebar gained Yuan 65/tonne ($9.3/t) on day to Yuan 3,670/t including the 13% VAT. Sales also climbed to a record of 3.5-month high.
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Mysteel’s Tangshan Q235 150mm square billet benchmark price, bellwether of China’s steel market sentiment, increased a total of Yuan 60/tonne ($8.6/t) over the weekend to Yuan 3,190/t EXW and including the VAT as of March 15. It is the highest level in the recent month, as local demand reached a “peak level”, according to a Chinese market source.
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China’s stocks of stainless steel continued to grow over the March 7-13 week as more products were transferred to traders’ warehouses, now that truck transportation has largely returned to normal, Mysteel Global learned. However, the rise in stocks led stainless prices in China to soften further during the week.
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As market had expected, both China’s auto sales and production slumped in February as the COVID-19 hit China’s economy and many industrial sectors hard, and the sales fell 79.1% on year and the production decreased 79.8% on year, the latest release from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) on March 12 confirmed the dismal.
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Total stocks of the five major finished steel products held by Chinese traders continued rising over the week of March 6-12, but the pace of growth slowed down from the previous week, mainly thanks to the demand recovery over the period, Mysteel Global has learned.
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China’s excavator sales including the domestic and overseas markets more than halved to 9,280 units for February, according to the latest data from China Construction Machinery Association (CCMA) on March 11, mainly as the domestic demand was affected seriously by the COVID-19 when most of China was at a standstill for most of the last month.
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Mysteel’s national average price for HRB400 20mm dia rebar benchmark remained unchanged from the previous day at Yuan 3,583/tonne ($515.2/t), including the 13% VAT as of March 10. Trading volume of long steel products amongst Chinese traders rose further and the increase in transactions encouraged traders to hold on to their offering prices, Mysteel Global has learned.
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Chinese steel export prices generally dipped over February 29-March 6 after just one-week of growth during the prior week, as global market sentiment worsened amid worries about the escalating COVID-19 virus, Mysteel’s latest survey showed.
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Mysteel’s national HRB400 20mm dia rebar benchmark price hit Yuan 3,583/tonne ($516/t) including the 13% VAT on March 9, a 34.5-month low since the end of April 2017, after it declined another Yuan 17/t from last Friday.
