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Steel stocks held by traders across China increased over the first week after the Chinese New Year holiday, rising by 16.4% on week as mills passed along some stocks to traders, Mysteel Global noted.
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China’s export offering prices of finished steel including the hot-rolled coil (HRC) and rebar rebounded by $15-25/tonne in the first couple of days after China has been back to work from the Chinese New Year (CNY) holiday over February 11-17, having borrowed support from the higher global steel prices and the rising raw material costs, according to Mysteel’s latest assessment.
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The prices of major steel products including rebar, hot-rolled coil and billet in China’s domestic market soared immediately after the Chinese New Year (CNY) holiday over February 18-19, ignoring the fact that finished steel stocks had built up substantially over the holiday, suggesting the overall market optimism on the domestic steel demand in the near term, Mysteel Global noted.
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Below are
summaries of the key ferrous data release schedule during the Chinese New Year
holiday over Feb 11-17.
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Global steel export prices continued trending in different directions last week, with prices in Europe and US strengthening further, while those in Asia stayed weak, with trading activity quietening ahead of Chinese New Year (CNY) celebrations in many countries, according to Mysteel’s latest weekly survey.
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The prices of both rebar and hot-rolled coil (HRC) stayed largely unchanged over February 1-5, as demand had gradually come to a standstill with just a few days away from the Chinese New Year (CNY) holiday, while the high-priced raw materials and market expectation on faster demand revival after the CNY holiday had been preventing from price slumps, Myteel Global noted.
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The Q235 150mm square billet price in Tangshan city, the weathervane of China’s steel market dynamics, has been locked at Yuan 3,850/tonne ($595/t) EXW and including the 13% VAT over February 2-17, and as of February 5, the price was down Yuan 10/t on week but up Yuan 550/t from the CNY period of 2020, according to Mysteel’s data.
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Blast furnace capacity utilization among China’s 247 steel mills rebounded after four weeks of dips, though up just 0.41 percentage point on week to 90.94% over January 29-February 4, as some domestic steel mills restarted some facilities after the maintenance, Mysteel’s latest survey showed.
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The stocks of finished steel at trading warehouses across China increased further for the sixth week last week as the Chinese New Year (CNY) holiday is not far off and many traders are in holiday mood, according to Mysteel’s latest survey. The rising pace of stocks accumulation quickened to 18.2% over the January 29-February 4 period, from the 13.8% on-week gain in the prior period, the results showed.
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China’s steel exports have been slowing down recently, with both the inquires and new bookings from the overseas buyers shrinking, as global steel prices with longs in particular, have plunged while the Chinese steel mills have refused to give in on prices too much due to the persistently high production costs, market sources shared on Wednesday.
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Mysteel’s latest survey shows that billet stocks at 14 trading houses in Tangshan, the country’s top steel producing and billet supply base in North China’s Hebei province, reversed down during the January 22-29 week, the first reduction in the past two months. As of January 28, total stocks held by the traders had eased by 46,800 tonnes or 5.5% from the ten-month high reached on January 21, as the pickup in profits led Tangshan steel re-rollers to resume active replenishment, according to Mysteel’s latest survey.
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The prices of both rebar and hot-rolled coil (HRC) in China’s physical steel market fluctuated over January 25-29 due to the complexity in the fundamentals with the softening in actual demand while high raw materials prices and the optimism of demand revival after the Chinese New Year (CNY) holiday over February 11-17, Mysteel Global noted.
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The stocks of finished steel products held by traders surveyed by Mysteel grew by 2.2 million tonnes on week over January 22-28, faster than the increase of 1.2 million tonnes on week in the prior period, Mysteel’s stocks survey showed. The faster rise in inventories was attributed to the approaching Chinese New Year holiday and fuelled by positive market sentiment regarding demand after the holidays end.
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Since last week, Chinese steel export prices have been on a fast downward track, with mills slashing prices and seeking export opportunities amid shrinking domestic demand. Though the offer price dive has continued this week, the volumes of Chinese steel being traded have declined and buyers abroad are stepping back from the market to watch, export sources said.
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Mysteel’s latest survey of ten integrated steel mills in Tangshan, North China’s Hebei province, showed that their average gross profits from selling billets had plunged by another Yuan 59/tonne ($9.1/t) on week to just Yuan 14/t as of January 22. The mills’ raw materials costs continued to climb but the producers hesitated to pass these along to customers in higher billet prices.
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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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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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Billet suppliers in Tangshan, China’s top steel producer based in North China’s Hebei province, have been trying to support billet prices given the low margins they are earning, according to Mysteel’s latest weekly report. Some are even suffering from losses amid shortages of raw materials.
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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.
