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China’s domestic steel prices, especially long steel, slid at a breakneck speed on November 20 with Mysteel’s Tangshan Q235 150mm square billet price slumping to a seven-month low of Yuan 3,450/tonne EXW with a Yuan 130/tonne ($4.3/t) in a single day, and the HRB 400 20mm dia rebar price in Shanghai also fell Yuan 100/t day on day to Yuan 4,150/t despite the demand in East China should have been better than in North China. Both prices include the 16% VAT.
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Representatives of Chinese scrap processors and steel plants attending last weekend’s 2018 National Scrap Metal Conference in Chengdu in Southwest China’s Sichuan province anticipate that steel scrap prices in the country’s major steelmaking centres will be generally stable during the present winter season of production cutbacks spanning November 15-March 30.
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Chinese prices of imported iron ore softened on November 20, with Mysteel’s price index for 62% seaborne iron ore fines dipping by $2.4/dmt on day to $72.9/dmt CFR Qingdao. Similarly, the 62% portside iron ore fines price index contracted by a sharp Yuan 7/wmt ($1/wmt) on day to Yuan 585/wmt FOT Qingdao and including 16% VAT.
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Jiangsu Shagang Group, China’s largest electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmaker, has lowered its procurement price for steel scrap, clipping its prices by Yuan 50/t ($7.2/t) effective from November 20 deliveries, the company announced Tuesday. The reduction is the mill’s second in seven short days and will likely encourage other steelmakers in East China to follow suit, Mysteel notes.
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Steel scrap prices in major Chinese regions softened further by Yuan 40-160/t ($5.8-23/t) or Yuan 100/t on average over the week of November 12-16, partly due to the softening in most of Chinese domestic steel prices, according to market sources.
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China’s steel scrap price is anticipated to stay stable by the first half of 2019 mainly because of the firm domestic demand, Li Shubin, Secretary General of China Association of Metalscrap Utilization (CAMU), shared on November 17 at the 2018 National Scrap Metal Conference in Chengdu, Southwest China’s Sichuan province.
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Feng Hsin Steel, Taiwan’s largest rebar producer and headquartered in Taichung, Central Taiwan, has decided to maintain both its domestic rebar list price and the procurement price for locally-sourced scrap at low levels for the week of November 19-23 amid the sluggish markets for both, a company official confirmed on Monday.
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China’s domestic market for iron ore firmed during the November 12-16 week, though prices of imported iron ore declined on bearish steel market sentiment, mainly because supplies of most ore grades were limited, Mysteel’s latest survey showed.
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Chinese prices of imported iron ore revived further on November 19, with Mysteel’s 62% Australian iron ore fines price index for seaborne cargoes gaining $0.35/dmt from last Friday to $75.3/dmt CFR Qingdao. Similarly, the index for port inventories also strengthened a little, edging up by Yuan 2/wmt ($0.29/wmt) from last Friday to reach Yuan 592/wmt FOT Qingdao and including 16% VAT.
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Coking coal inventories being held by the 230 Chinese independent coking plants that Mysteel surveys weekly edged up another 1.2% or 175,200 tonnes on week to 15.1 million tonnes as of November 15, refreshing the eight-month high, according to Mysteel’s survey published on November 16. Active buying at a time when coking capacity utilization is low was the major factor driving up stocks last week, market sources explained.
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China’s lacklustre finished steel market has finally permeated the market for imported iron ore. Many steel mills are withdrawing from raw materials procurement, a development that’s making it hard for iron ore traders to stick to the high offer prices they’ve been demanding recently, Mysteel hears.
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Shanghai Ganglian E-Commerce Holdings (SGEH), parent company of Mysteel Global, has signed an agreement to enter into a joint venture and shareholder's agreement with Singapore Exchange Limited (SGX) today, 19 November 2018.
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The volume of steel scrap arising in China this year is forecast to increase by 10% or by 20 million tonnes on year to reach 220 million tonnes, Li Shubin, Secretary General of the China Association of Metal Scrap Utilization (CAMU), forecasted at the 2018 National Scrap Metal Conference in Chengdu, Southwest China, on November 17. Within the total, some 40 million tonnes will be mill return scrap, according to Li.
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The ratio of steel output in China produced via the electric-arc furnace (EAF) route is expected to keep growing this year and in the years ahead, given the pace at which the country’s steelmakers are introducing new facilities.
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Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) is beefing up efforts to promote the introduction of steel scrap futures to better serve the “fast-developing” steel scrap industry in China, said Zhao Yusheng, executive manager of DCE on November 17.
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The capacity utilization rate among China’s 230 independent coking plants Mysteel monitors slipped by 1.4 percent points on week during the November 9-15 period to 74.56% as of November 15 after some merchant coke plants were ordered to limit production, according to Mysteel’s survey released on November 16.
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The China Association of Metalscrap Utilization (CAMU) has formulated a system of classification standards for China’s steel scrap industry which it hopes will be approved by the government and put into trial operation in the first quarter of 2019, according to Li Shubin, Secretary General of CAMU.
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The price of Q235 billet in Tangshan in North China’s Hebei province, Chinese steel’s bellwether price, continued to soften over the weekend, losing a large Yuan 90/tonne ($13/t) from last Friday’s Yuan 3,640/t to reach Yuan 3,550/t EXW and including the 16% VAT as of November 18.
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The Chinese market for imported iron ore both at portside and seaborne trended upward on November 16, with Mysteel’s 62% Australian iron ore fines price index for seaborne cargoes recovering $0.5/dmt on day to reach $74.95/dmt CFR Qingdao. Similarly, the index for port inventories also climbed, gaining Yuan 4/wmt ($0.58/wmt) on day to reach Yuan 590/wmt FOT Qingdao and including 16% VAT.
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The start of production restrictions for winter among Chinese steelmakers and their raw materials processors has revealed a vast difference in approach to the issue among steelmakers and local authorities in the country’s two largest steelmaking centres, Tangshan and Handan in North China’s Hebei province. But for the 200-odd steelmakers and merchant coke producers the cities host, the differences in policy execution by their city governments may be rendered irrelevant by nature if this week’s pollution alert emergency becomes a worrying regularity.
