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Chinese domestic prices of rebar should continue tracking upward over the short term as market players envisage the robust demand for the construction steel product continuing to linger, market sources shared on April 24. But they warned that prices were unlikely to refresh last December's 74-month high anytime soon.
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Feng Hsin Steel, Taiwan's largest rebar producer headquartered in Taichung city, Central Taiwan, decided to roll over its rebar and scrap procurement prices for the week of April 23-27, a company official confirmed on April 24.
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Crude steel production in Japan during the fiscal year 2017 ending March 31 slipped by 0.3% on year, or the first annual decline in two years, according to the data released by the Japan Iron & Steel Federation on April 20.
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Bengang Steel Plates Company, the Shenzhen-listed arm of China's Benxi iron & Steel Group (Bengang Group), plans to produce 9.2 million tonnes of crude steel in 2018, or up 3.4% on year, according to the company's 2017 annual report released on April 20.
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Production of the four major home appliances in China was mixed during the January-March quarter, according to the latest data released by National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
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The surprise announcement late last month by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang of a one percentage point reduction in the country's value-added tax (VAT) effective May 1 is being awaited by the country's steel sector with positive anticipation, Mysteel has learned.
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Japanese integrated mills Nippon Steel and Sumitomo Metal Corp (NSSMC) and Kobe Steel have each announced plans to expand production of high-strength sheets for automotive applications at their works in Japan.
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Chinese domestic rebar prices are expected to pick up later this month after navigating some short-term volatility, according to Wan Chao, a Mysteel long steel analyst based in Shanghai. The prices should continue to firm in tandem with the recovery in downstream demand as the days warm with the arrival of spring and outdoor projects recommence.
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China's shipbuilders enjoyed a healthy 180% on-year surge in new vessel orders during the January-March quarter of this year to 15.5 million DWT (deadweight tons), according to the latest statistics released by China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry (CANSI) on April 13.
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Automobile production and sales in China in March reversed the drop witnessed in February, advancing by 54.1% and 54.6% respectively on month, according to the latest statistics from China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) published on April 11.
The increases in auto output and sales, to 2.63 million and 2.66 million
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On the last trading day of March, the most-traded hot rolled coil futures contract on the Shanghai Future Exchange (SHFE) - that for October - rose by Yuan 95/tonne ($15/t) on day to Yuan 3,726/t. Investors were responding to news of recovering downstream demand and better market sentiment among the steel traders, Mysteel notes. However, sentiment has since turned cautious again.
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Scrap consumption among China's blast-furnace steelmakers are expected to remain steady at a relative high ratio of 15-18% nationwide in the near term due to its remaining pricing competitiveness against hot metal, market sources shared on April 3.
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The Japanese ferrous scrap market has been on the downward path with yet another procurement price reduction of market leader Tokyo Steel Manufacturing by another Yen 500~1,000/tonne ($4.7~9.4/t) for all grades for all its steelworks effective for April 4 deliveries.
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Feng Hsin Steel, Taiwan's biggest rebar producer in Taichung city, Central Taiwan, has cut its scrap procurement price again by TWD 300/tonne ($10.3/t), but has left its rebar list price unchanged for the week of April 2-6, a company official said on April 2.
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China' s Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for the domestic manufacturing industry rose 1.2 basis points month on month to 51.5 in March, indicating that the country's manufacturing sector has been steadily improving, according to the latest release by China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on March 31.
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The decline in prices of steel scrap in East China's Jiangsu province, a core scrap-consumption base in China, came to a halt and showed signs of stabilizing over March 27-29, thanks chiefly to the recent rise in China's domestic steel prices, market sources said.
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South Korea's steelmakers will be able to export up to 2.68 million tonnes of steel to the US per year free from the recent controversial 25% import tariff, under a deal Korea's trade minister Kim Hyun-chong thrashed out in Washington last week.
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For the week of March 19-23, Chinese prices of imported iron ore both for port inventories and seaborne cargoes continued to soften, as buying enthusiasm for raw materials including iron ore from Chinese steelmakers was dampened by the significant drop in domestic steel prices, according to market watchers.
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Japan's crude steel output in February dipped by 8.1% on month to 8.3 million tonnes, according to the data released by Japan Iron & Steel Federation (JISF) on March 23.
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China's domestic steel prices are still under downward pressure, and they will hit the bottom in the near or medium term once the window of exports is open, Xu Xiaoqing, chief economist from DH Fund Management, predicted at a recent iron ore event in Qingdao, East China's Shandong province.
