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During the January 18-22 week, the prices of both rebar and hot-rolled coil (HRC) in China’s physical market dipped, as the demand from their respective end-users wanned and the domestic steel traders showed limited interest in stocking up finished steel despite only three weeks away from the Chinese New Year (CNY) holiday over February 11-17, Mysteel Global noted.
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Rebar prices in China’s futures market stayed rangebound during the January 18-22 week. Sources said Friday that weakening demand had dampened the rebar price and that in the days ahead, the trend of raw materials prices would play an important role in determining the ferrous market’s direction overall.
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Stocks of the five major finished steel products held by the 184 Chinese steel mills monitored regularly by Mysteel continued to grow over January 14-20 due to the fall in consumption among end-users, according to Mysteel’s latest weekly survey.
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The stocks of finished steel held by Chinese traders surveyed by Mysteel increased again over January 15-21, gaining by another 7.7% on week and making for the fourth straight weekly rise, Mysteel Global noted. Last week’s pickup was faster than the 5.2% on-week rise in the prior period, but traders’ enthusiasm for stocking up has clearly cooled down amid high prices and uncertainties regarding price trends after the Chinese New Year holiday.
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Since the start of 2021, China’s rebar export price has caught up with speed in strengthening, up $15/tonne on week or $30/t higher than the end of December, and the export volume has surged too, while the hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices has shown signs of waning after the earlier spree in December, Mysteel’s latest weekly report.
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China’s domestic prices of finished steel products including rebar and hot-rolled-coil (HRC) softened in the week of January 11-15, as the demand obviously softened and the stocks at both the steel mills and traders increased further in turn, Mysteel Global noted.
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China’s rebar futures price on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) spiralled down over January 11-15 in reaction to the softening demand while swelling stocks, but the domestic market sources remained optimistic upon the price outlook in the longer term, Mysteel Global noted.
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Stocks of the five major finished steel products held by the 184 Chinese steel mills monitored regularly by Mysteel mounted for the third consecutive week over January 7-13, as domestic steelmakers continued to produce normally while steel consumption among end-users shrank further.
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China’s domestic steel prices including the physical and futures markets increased in the first week of January despite the continuing gains in the finished steel stocks, mainly as the remaining high raw materials prices had been supportive, Mysteel Global noted.
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Stocks of the five major finished steel products held by the 184 Chinese steel mills monitored regularly by Mysteel continued to move up for the second week over December 31-January 6 as consumption among end-users remained depressed – weakened by the sudden winter freeze – while the domestic mills still maintained high output during the period.
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Stocks of finished steel in China’s retail market increased for a second straight week over January 1-7, swelling by a further 836,100 tonnes on week – more than double the increment of 331,600 tonnes in the previous period and drawing a heavy line under the earlier 11-week drop, according to Mysteel’s latest stocks survey.
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The prices of steel rebar and hot-rolled coil (HRC) in China’s physical market experienced the downward correction in the last week of 2020, partly as the finished steel stocks in the commercial warehouses in China reversed up amid seasonal factors such as abrupt and serious temperature drops in many parts of the country.
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Stocks of the five major finished steel products held by the 184 Chinese steel mills monitored by Mysteel reversed up over December 24-30 after sliding for three weeks, as demand from end users slowed down with the arrival of the severe cold front across much of the country.
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Finished steel stocks at trading warehouse across China finally rebounded over December 25-31 after declining for eleven straight weeks, according to Mysteel’s latest survey, gaining 331,600 tonnes or 2.6% on week, as the sudden spell of cold weather has caused demand to stumble.
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Chinese export prices for both long and flat steel items surged at an even faster rate last week compared with previous weeks, reflecting the fact that domestic steel prices had hit multi-year highs earlier in the week. But Mysteel’s latest weekly survey shows that bid prices lodged by global buyers have been slow to catch up.
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China’s spot prices of major steel products including rebar, hot-rolled coil (HRC) and billet increased further during the December 21-25 week, but the significant rises were nibbled at by the downward corrections in futures prices during the latter part of last week, Mysteel Global noted.
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Stocks of the five major finished steel products held by the 184 Chinese steel mills monitored by Mysteel emptied at a fast pace over December 17-23, shrinking by 5.7% on week to 4.8 million tonnes, the lowest since mid-January, while the output of mills dipped further during the same week, according to Mysteel’s latest weekly survey.
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Like those globally, Chinese steel export prices have been on a steep upward track recently, but buyers are gradually finding the high offers increasingly unacceptable and are not placing new orders. Some steel traders in the international market reckon that prices are losing momentum for further growth as demand is expected to slow with the coming Christmas holiday.
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China’s spot steel prices increased remarkably over December 14-18 to their respective multi-year highs, mainly driven by the rises both in the steel futures prices and raw materials costs as well as the ever-falling finished steel stocks, Mysteel Global noted.
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The most-traded rebar contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) for delivery next May reversed up by Yuan 208/tonne ($31.8/t) or 5% from the settlement price on December 11 to end the daytime trading session at Yuan 4,316/t as of December 18. Market watchers said the price rebound reflected the optimistic outlook for demand next year held by most domestic market participants.
