WEEKLY SUMMARY: China's major steel prices weaken in quiet market

Chinese prices of major steel items in the physical market weakened gradually over the past week in the quiet market, as more end-users and traders had left the market due to the coming Chinese New Year (CNY) holiday over February 10-17, Mysteel Global learned. Transactions in the physical market also slowed further.

Rebar: As of February 4, a working day in China due to the CNY break, China's national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar under Mysteel's assessment came in at Yuan 4,031/tonne ($560/t) including the 13% VAT, lower by Yuan 17/t from that on January 26.

Spot sales of construction steel witnessed a significant fall, as many building contractors had halted operations and let the workers go home earlier to celebrate the country's most important festival.

Over January 29-February 4, the daily trading volume of rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 trading houses under Mysteel's regular survey averaged 20,726 tonnes/day, tumbling by 62,311 t/d or 75% from the previous week.

Billet: The price of Tangshan Q235 150mm square billet in North China's Hebei province was assessed by Mysteel at Yuan 3,550/t EXW and including the 13% VAT as of February 4, down by Yuan 100/t from that on January 26 due to the thinning demand from downstream re-rollers.

HRC: As of February 4, China's average price of Q235 4.75mm hot-rolled coil (HRC) nationwide under Mysteel's assessment reached Yuan 4,076/t including the 13% VAT, lower by Yuan 35/t compared with that on January 26.

HRC inventories at commercial warehouses accumulated further with the quietening domestic market, with the total volume warehoused in the 55 Chinese cities under Mysteel's regular tracking climbing for the second week to 3.47 million tonnes as of February 1, higher by 3.1% from the prior week.

Written by Nancy Zheng, zhengmm@mysteel.com

Edited by Russ McCulloch, russ.mcculloch@mysteel.com