-
China’ steel mills and traders have renewed their interest in exporting, lured by the far higher global steel prices that are more than sufficient to cover the difference now that Beijing has removed tax rebates on most of the commercial-grade steel exports since May 1, market sources shared on May 8, a make-up working day in China after the Labour Day holiday over May 1-5.
-
On May 8, a make-up workday in China after the Labour Day holiday, the country’s national HRB 400E 20mm rebar price soared Yuan 162/tonne ($25/t) to a new high since Mysteel commenced the assessment on March 3 2011, and spot sales of construction steel among the 237 traders under Mysteel’s tracking recovered 2.5% on day.
-
China’s domestic steel prices have been on another round of climb-ups after the Labour Day holiday over May 1-5, all according to Mysteel’s assessments, as both domestic demand and market optimism had been lending support, and steelmaking raw material prices have been following closely behind, Mysteel Global noted.
-
Daily crude steel output among the member mills of the China Iron & Steel Association (CISA) increased further by 3.3% or 75,534 tonnes/day in ten days to around 2.4 million t/d on average over April 21-30, according to the association’s release on May 7, confirming that the domestic steel mills had been in general ramping up their steel output to maximize the good days with high steel margins and robust demand.
-
The benefit of covering the ferrous market news for long especially being very close to the happenings in the iron ore market when working in the world’s three pricing reporting agencies (PRAs) is to immediately know that the 62% iron ore pricing index hit a historical high on May 6 when it exceeded $200/dmt CFR China, without even bothering to check the data.
-
Tata Steel sales have hit a record high at 17.31 mn t in FY ’21 on the back of strong recovery in demand from end-users in H2. The volumes are up by 2% in comparison with 16.97 mn t in the previous fiscal, SteelMint learned from the recent press release in BSE filing. However, the same remained largely stable at 4.67 mn t in Q4 FY ’21 compared with 4.65 mn t in Q3.
-
China exported 25.7 million tonnes of finished steel over January-April, up 24.5% on year, and imports totalled 4.9 million tonnes over the same period, up 16.9% on year, the latest statistics from China’s General Administration of Customs (GACC) published on May 7 showed, with the growth rates largely the same as during first quarter.
-
China’s foreign trade value gained 28.5% on year over January-April to reach Yuan 11.62 trillion ($1.79 trillion), with exports up more substantially by 33.8% on year to Yuan 6.32 trillion and imports up 22.7% on year to Yuan 5.3 trillion, according to the latest data from the country’s General Administration of Customs (GACC) announced on May 7.
-
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.
-
China's finished steel exports approximated 25.7 million tonnes over January-April, or up 24.5% on year, and the imports moved up 16.9% on year to 4.89 million tonnes over the same period, according to the release by the country's General Administration of Customs on May 7. A detailed report will be
-
On May 6, China’s national HRB400E 20mm rebar price reached the highest since Mysteel commenced the assessment in March 2011, or hitting Yuan 5,489/tonne ($844/t) including the 13% VAT after having skyrocketed by Yuan 234/t from April 30, and spot sales of construction steel rebounded by 57.5% from April 30, according to Mysteel’s surveys among 237 Chinese traders.
-
The second wave of Covid-19 is threatening to slam the brakes on the automotive sector that was just beginning to accelerate. The cautious optimism with which the auto-makers looked forward to FY ’22 has given way to worry as the sudden spike in the infections has led to lockdown in many key markets. In recent weeks, there have been a number of automakers that have had to shut down their manufacturing plants due to the rapid increase in COVID-19 cases.
-
SteelMint’s benchmark prices for 2.5mm thickness HRC stands at INR 66,500-67,500/t and CRC at 80,500-81,500/t exy-Mumbai. The prices mentioned above are exclusive of GST @18%.
-
After nearly one and a half years of long wait, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information (MIIT), the governing body of the domestic steel industry, released the updated detailed guidelines regarding the old-for-new steel capacity swaps in China on May 6, and it will take effect on June 1 nationwide.
-
Daily crude steel output among the 318 Chinese steel mills under Mysteel’s regular survey grew further to average 2.99 million tonnes/day over April 21-30, hitting the highest since mid-September 2020, as domestic steel mills ramped up production while steel prices remained profitable and end-user demand stayed steady.
-
The Purchasing Managers’ Index for the steel industry in North China’s Hebei province, the country’s top steel production base, climbed again in April to reach 53.6, growing by another 1.2 basis points on month thanks to firm end-user demand, according to the latest release by the Hebei Metallurgical Industry Association on May 1.
-
Global automobile production by Japan’s eight major automakers during the fiscal 2020 (April 2020-March 2021) fell to a nine-year low, or recording a 12.2% on-year decline to about 23.12 million units, according to the latest data released by the automakers, though the on-year decline was not as steep as the market had expected.
-
China’s heavy trucks sales may have slowed in April, with the sales volume expected to grow 4% on year but down 14% on month, as demand may take a pause after a robust March even though the National Stage VI specifications will be adopted starting H2, according to the projection by the Beijing-headquartered Commercial Vehicle World (CVWorld) on May 5.
-
Mysteel’s assessment on the Q235 150mm square billet price in Tangshan, North China’s Hebei province, jumped Yuan 70/tonne ($11/t) from April 30, reaching Yuan 5,060/t EXW and including the 13% VAT as of May 5, despite the Labour Day holiday over May 1-5, as domestic demand from the local re-rollers has strongly recovered on their restarting the rolling lines, market sources indicated.
-
Very rarely, China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) released a statement both in Chinese and English on May 6, the first working day after the Labour Day holiday over May 1-5, notifying the public of the decision “to indefinitely suspend all activities under the framework of the China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue”.
