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China’s steel export prices weakened over September 14-18, their first decline since early May, as steel suppliers – especially traders – lowered their offers when domestic demand turned slack, Mysteel’s latest weekly survey has found. Export trading increased after the gap in prices between Chinese products and those of rivals closed, respondents said.
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The spot price of high-carbon ferrochrome (FeCr) in North China’s Inner Mongolia moved up Yuan 50/tonne ($7.4/t) on week to reach Yuan 5,850/tonne including 13% VAT as of September 23, as the prices were supported by the firm market for chrome ore, the limited FeCr supply and robust demand, according to Mysteel’s latest weekly report.
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The daily steel output among the member mills of the China Iron & Steel Association (CISA) reversed up slightly by 9,000 t/d or 0.4% in ten days over September 11-20 to 2.15 million tonnes/day on average, and it was 1.9% higher on year, according to the latest release by the association on September 22.
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China’s national average price of HRB400 20mm dia rebar assessed by Mysteel continued to weaken for the sixth working day on Tuesday, down another Yuan 12/tonne ($1.8/t) on day to Yuan 3,768/t including the 13% VAT as of September 22. Steel trade picked up slightly after the recent continuous price drops.
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China’s national average price of HRB400 20mm dia rebar assessed by Mysteel, an indicator of China’s steel market dynamics, declined by another Yuan 15/tonne ($2.2/t) from last Friday to Yuan 3,780/t including the 13% VAT as of September 21. The price had softened for five working days in a row and market sentiment deteriorated as steel demand had remained weak.
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Daily crude steel production among the 318 Chinese steel mills under Mysteel’s regular survey continued falling over the middle ten days of September, due to the lower-than-expected demand from end-users. The tonnage averaged 2.97 million tonnes/day over September 11-20, sliding by another 16,800 t/d or 0.6% from the prior ten days, according to Mysteel’s data.
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Among the four major electrical home appliances manufacturing in China, that of air-conditioner declined the most by 17.2% on month to 15.3 million units for August, though the volume was still 0.5% higher on year, according to the latest data from China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), though market sources remained optimistic on higher production for the last quarter of 2020.
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Note: Starting January 3 2020, Mysteel has enlarged the number of the warehouses in Wuxi by five to track 90% of the spot stainless stocks in the city, up from the original 80%. The
formal release of the new data have commenced on June 1.
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Mergers and acquisitions since 2016 have grown China’s Baowu Steel Group (Baowu) into the world’s top steel producer as well as hitting its ambitious target of a 100 million tonnes/year steelmaking capacity one year ahead of schedule, and M&As will be a main theme in the company’s next five-year development, Chen Derong, the company chairman, sent a clear message.
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The prices of both rebar and hot-rolled coil (HRC) in China’s physical market declined further over September 14-18, as the domestic steel production remained stable while the demand recovery was below the expectation, Mysteel Global noted.
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Stainless steel inventories at commercial warehouses in Wuxi and Foshan, China’s two core stainless trading hubs, rose for the second consecutive week over September 11-17, though at a faster pace of 2.2% against the 0.6% rise over the prior week, according to Mysteel’s weekly survey. The persistent weakness of demand from end-users and the pickup in arrivals at traders’ warehouses were mainly responsible.
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China’s shipbuilders received new vessel orders totalling about 15 million dead weight tons (dwt) over January-August, or down 4.5% on year, according to the latest data from the China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry (CANSI), there was a slight improvement from the 4.8% on-year drop for the first seven months, but the concern persisted on the insufficiency of the backlog.
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China’s national average HRB400 20mm dia rebar price slipped for the third day as of September 17, down another Yuan 10/tonne ($1.5/t) on day to Yuan 3,796/t including the 13% VAT, and the slight recovery in trading and depletion of inventories seemed to have failed to ease the current pessimism, Mysteel Global understands.
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China’s production of rebars reached 24.1 million tonnes in August, up 0.9% on month or 9.2% on year, according to the latest data released by China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on September 17.
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China’s year-to-date power consumption grew in August, with the volume rising by 0.5% on year to 4.77 trillion kWh over January-August, according to new data from the National Energy Administration (NEA). The cumulative eight-month rise brought an end to the sustained drop since early this year, the data show.
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Steel stocks at Chinese traders’ warehouses declined further and faster over September 11-17, thanks to the firm end-user demand over the period, even though market sentiment stayed gloomy, Mysteel Global noted.
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Chinese steel prices are unlikely to rise significantly in the coming term under the pressure of high supply, despite firm demand from end-users in the traditional peak season for steel consumption, according to the monthly report of the China Iron & Steel Association (CISA) published on September 17.
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China’s steel market might face both increased supply and higher demand during the current July-December half compared with H1, according to a September 16 release by the China Metallurgical News (CMN) reporting a conference held earlier by China Iron and Steel Association (CISA).
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A large integrated steel works project in Malaysia being promoted by Hebei Xinwu’an Iron & Steel Group (Xinwu’an Steel), a steel producer based in North China’s Hebei province, has just received approval from Malaysia’s Ministry of International Trade and Industry, according to a recent release from China’s Ministry of Commerce (MoC). Construction on the 10 million tonnes/year works project is about to start, the MoC release said.
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The spot price of the high-carbon ferrochrome (FeCr) in North China’s Inner Mongolia stayed unchanged at Yuan 5,800/tonne ($853/t) including 13% VAT as of September 16 after three weeks of rises, as both the traders and stainless plants slowed down their paces of buying from the prior weeks, according to Mysteel’s latest weekly report.
