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South Korean steel giant POSCO and UK-based plant builder Primetals Technologies are advancing further into eco-friendly steelmaking, announcing the signing of an agreement to jointly design and build ironmaking plants incorporating hydrogen reduction touted as the Holy Grail of steelmaking.
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Mysteel weekly steel market outlook and visualizaion of some key indicators including prices, inventories and capacity utilization rate.
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Shanghai, China's most internationalized city and the largest steel-trading hub in East China, has been under strict lockdowns since March 28 to combat the worst COVID-19 outbreak ever in terms of infection numbers. The citywide lockdown has almost stalled steel delivery and consumption in Shanghai, and the impact has been permeating to other regions of the country, Mysteel Global learned from market sources.
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The sudden surge in the number of positive COVID-19 cases being identified in China in recent weeks is further unsettling China's steel market, already being buffeted by a slower-than-usual demand recovery in spring, domestic industry sources noted on March 15.
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2021 was undoubtedly a year full of surprises, where China's crude steel output declined on-year for the first time in five years and where Chinese steel prices hit historical highs under the twin thrusts of improved domestic and overseas market conditions.
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Click here for part 1 of the Review
China resumes imports of steel scrap, yet import volumes lower than expected
Starting January 1 last year, China lifted restrictions on steel scrap imports. It also adopted new "recycled iron-steel raw materials" standards. However, the total volume imported was notably lower than during
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For those using and trading steelmaking raw materials in China, 2021 was a rollercoaster year. The markets for iron ore and ferrous scrap reached a watershed in mid-May. Here then are the ten leading news stories that impacted raw materials markets last year.
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Restocking sentiment among Chinese steel market players has waned this week, as most have started looking beyond the National Day week holiday over October 1-7 to ponder the fundamentals of key products and their price movements after the break. Arguably, the market outlook has rarely been this uncertain.
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Recently in China, power rationing has been extended to more provinces and to residential neighbourhoods with a few hours of blackouts instead of just about power-intensive industrial enterprises including ferroalloy and nonferrous smelters and steelworks, and the wider-range imposition is simply because of the worsening power supply shortage in various regions, Mysteel Global noted from the market sources in related sectors.
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Despite the heated discussion in the overseas market about the financial matter of Evergrande Group, China’s second largest property developer, and the concerns about the ripple effect on China’s property market and steel demand, China’s domestic steel market sources appeared rather calm, anticipating whatever adverse impact on this individual case will be contained and managed.
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With many Asian countries reports thousands of cases a day, it is hard to imagine that China, with 20-30 new COVID-19 cases/day, has also been on high alert and has locked logistics across the provinces in some regions such as East China’s Jiangsu.
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Anshan Iron & Steel Group (Ansteel) in Northeast China’s Liaoning province has been quietly progressing with its merger of Bengang Group (Bengang), another state-owned steel mill in the province, as more shares of Bengang’s Shenzhen-listed arm have been transferred to the group company free of charge to facilitate the merger, a Bengang official confirmed on July 21.
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Steel market watchers in and out of China have been closely watching the moves in China, the world’s top steelmaking country, regarding more restrictive measures on its steel production for the remainder of 2021 so as to realize lower steel output for the whole year. And a number of Chinese companies have even been named recently on their curbing efforts or plans to do so, though only a few have been proven true.
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Speculation in Chinese steel circles about whether producers, large and small, will be obliged to rein-in their crude steel output during this July-December half is intensifying. After sitting quietly almost forgotten for several months, the issue has roared to life in recent days after two official documents began circulating in the market which seemed to suggest production cuts are a near certainty.
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China’s ferrous and steel-consuming sectors such as construction have reported various degrees of disruption to their daily operations by the grand celebration of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC) with the formal ceremony to be held in Beijing on July 1, Mysteel Global understood from the related markets on June 22.
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Recent remarks from China’s central government criticising runaway commodities prices have seen prices of most finished steel items lose all the gains they had made during the weeks of steady price escalation, while iron ore prices have also retreated but not by as much. Amid renewed comments on Wednesday from China’s State Council reiterating the importance of commodity market stability, market watchers inside and outside China are keenly waiting to see how much further prices will fall and when they might finally bottom out.
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China’s major steel consuming sectors including construction contractors, auto and home appliances manufacturers have been prioritizing on fulfilling their signed contracts, though they have keenly felt the bite from the higher steel prices, and they may continue to endure the pain of higher costs now that prices of both steel longs and flats have spiked in the last few days, market sources shared on May 11.
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The surges in the prices of the series of ferrous products including steel, iron ore, and coke since April, have further divided the ferrous market sources in and out of China on their views regarding the possibility of China’s steel output cuts despite Beijing’s reiterations, as steel demand both in and out of China has been robust and steel margins have been high at Yuan 600-1,000/tonne ($93-155/t) depending on products.
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Barely had the ink dried on recently-signed sales-purchase contracts for coke than leading merchant coke producers in North, Central and East China on Friday notified their customers that steelmakers will be paying another Yuan 100/tonne ($15.5/t) at least when next they purchase merchant coke – possibly as soon as from May 1.
