-
Weak construction-steel demand, caused by snowfalls and freezing weather in North China and continuing rains in East China, continues to weigh heavily upon steel prices, with Mysteel’s national average price for HRB400 20mm dia rebar losing Yuan 46/tonne ($6.7/t) on day to Yuan 3,982/t including the 16% VAT on December 11, the lowest level since late April.
-
The Tangshan local government is restricting the use of trucks to transport heavy goods including iron ore and steel into and out of Caofeidian port in North China’s Hebei province as concerns remain about possible high levels of air pollution. However, the impact of the rolling series of bans on local steel mills and on the market is expected to be limited, market sources agreed on Tuesday.
-
The market for billet in North China’s Tangshan city, the pulse of the country’s steel market, rebounded over the week of December 3-7, with Mysteel’s Q235 150mm square Tangshan benchmark price reversing up by Yuan 230/tonne ($33.3/t) on week to Yuan 3,310/t EXW and including the 16% VAT as of December 7, as re-rollers and end users increased buying amid improved sentiment.
-
The city government of Tangshan in North China’s Hebei province is stepping up pressure on local steel mills to ensure that by the end of this month, all sintering and pelletizing machines presently in operation meet the ultra-low emission standards decided by the central government, an official from the city’s environmental protection bureau has confirmed. Tangshan is concerned about deteriorating air quality over the city this month.
-
China’s domestic average price for HRB400 20mm dia rebar slipped further on Monday, losing Yuan 55/tonne ($8/t) from last Friday to reach Yuan 4,028/t including the 16% VAT. The decline was a consequence of the significant contraction of demand from end users amid the drop in temperatures across much of China, sources said.
-
The government of Tangshan city, China’s top steel producing city in North China’s Hebei province, announced the introduction of new emergency production curbs from Sunday on local industries including steel which will remain in place for the rest of this month, Mysteel learned from mill sources Monday. The government explained that weather forecasts for the city for the coming few weeks indicated that smog could linger in the atmosphere rather than disburse.
-
The total value of China’s exports to the United States for November still grew 8.2% on month, a much faster rate than the 4.7% month-on-month growth which China’s total exports worldwide enjoyed last month and despite the ongoing trade friction between the world’s top two economies, the latest statistics from China’s General Administration of Customs show.
-
China’s exports of steel reached 5.3 million tonnes in November, representing a decline of 202,000 tonnes or 3.7% on month, according to data from China's General Administration of Customs released on December 8. China exported 63.8 million tonnes of steel over January-November, lower by a large 8.6% on year, Customs data show.
-
China’s steel industry has removed steel capacity equivalent to nearly 150 million tonnes/year since 2016, basically fulfilling the capacity reduction target the central government had set the industry, according to Chi Jingdong, deputy secretary general of China Iron and Steel Association.
-
China’s central government is stepping up pressure on local authorities to solve the debt problem of ‘zombie’ enterprises – debt-ridden firms surviving only through bank-financing drip-feeds — and of companies involved in capacity reduction, as part of efforts to fast-track ongoing supply-side reforms, according to a December 4 notice tabled by eleven ministries and institutions under China’s State Council.
-
Chinese exports of carbon and special steel to Japan rose again in October, new data from the Japan Iron & Steel Federation show, with exports of wire rods continuing to register particularly strong growth. South Korea remains by far the largest source of Japan’s steel imports, however.
-
Shenzhen-listed Hunan Valin Steel Co, the listed arm of Hunan Valin Group in central China’s Hunan province, has suspended trading its shares since December 3 to proceed with inviting six creditors to increase their stakes in Valin’s three subsidiaries either via cash or the credits held against these enterprises as a solution for Valin to further reduce its and the subsidiaries’ debt-asset ratios, according to the company disclosure on December 5.
-
Jingye Group (Jingye), China’s leading rebar producer and based in North China’s Hebei province, will build three 1,500 cu m blast furnaces and one 150-tonne converter by the end of 2020, according to an announcement published by the provincial government’s Industry and Information Technology Department on December 3.
-
The price of Tangshan Q235 150mm square billet in North China’s Hebei province, a key indicator of China’s steel market sentiment, recovered by Yuan 70/tonne ($10.2/t) on day to Yuan 3,330/t including the 16% VAT as of December 5, mainly as the market sentiment was boosted with the speculation that the Tangshan government may enhance the efforts in the battle against the air pollution.
-
The government of Tangshan, China’s top steelmaking city, has again urged local steel mills to halt blast furnaces in accordance with the winter production curb guideline it published in early November, according to a Tangshan government announcement circulating in the market since the afternoon of December 4.
-
China’s daily crude steel output among the 97 member mills of the China Iron & Steel Association (CISA) during Nov 11-20 averaged 1.95 million tonnes/day, or up another 1.8% from the previous ten days, according to the latest data released by CISA.
-
The price of Tangshan Q235 150mm square billet in North China’s Hebei province, a key indicator of China’s steel market sentiment, receded by Yuan 70/tonne ($10.2/t) on day to Yuan 3,260/t EXW and including the 16% VAT on December 4 after a surge of Yuan 250/t over the previous three days, as the domestic steel market sentiment remained cautious after a short-time boost by the ease in the tension between China and the US on the trade friction, as the steel demand is usually sluggish over December-February for most of China including North, Northeast, Central and East, and concern upon a slow-down in the national economy remains.
-
Towards the end of November, billet producers in Tangshan, North China’s Hebei province, fell into lossmaking for the first time in the past two years due to the continuing slumps in billet price amid the overall softening in China’s domestic steel prices over the period, Mysteel’s latest weekly survey on the market shows.
-
Ferrous commodity futures contracts on Chinese exchanges rallied strongly on Monday as investors were heartened by news that Beijing and Washington had decided on a time-out in their trade dispute, boosting market sentiment, Mysteel noted on Monday.
-
Two steel producers in North China’s Shanxi province, Jincheng Fusheng Iron and Steel Co in Jincheng City and Huaxinyuan Iron and Steel Co in Hejin City, plan to build new facilities in their existing works, an official from Shanxi provincial government’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) confirmed on Monday.
