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Chinese prices of imported iron ore for both port inventories and seaborne cargoes both dipped on December 9, with sales today still weak.
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The bearishness of China's merchant coke market could be waning after the price tumble witnessed throughout November, Mysteel Global has learned, as steel producers in core steelmaking hubs in the country's North, East and Northeast regions have given no hint they plan another assault on procurement prices. At least, not so far this month.
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Over December 3-9, total stocks of the five major finished steel products at commercial warehouses in the 132 Chinese cities Mysteel tracks declined for the ninth straight week and hit a 10.5-month low of 14.7 million tonnes, the regular stocks survey found. This was also down 2.8% or 424,300 tonnes on week.
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Chinese spot prices of primary and secondary lead under Mysteel's assessment declined during December 1-8, in line with the drops in lead futures prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE), market sources observed.
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China's imported iron ore and coke prices have moved in opposite directions since mid-November, though both are core raw materials for steelmaking and usually move together with domestic steel prices especially in a slack consumption season, and the root cause for the disparity lies in their different fundamentals.
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China's market for graphite electrodes has been in steady retreat for the past week, with prices ending nearly ten weeks of consecutive inclines. A market watcher attributed the slide mainly to thinning demand from domestic electric-arc-furnace (EAF) steelmakers coping with a dull finished steel market.
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In November, ferrosilicon (FeSi) production among the 136 Chinese smelters under Mysteel's monthly survey surged by 76,300 tonnes or 21% on month to a total of 440,800 tonnes, mainly due to the resumption of operations in some major production bases. The capacity of the surveyed smelters accounts for almost all the country's total.
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Chinese prices of nickel pig iron declined significantly this week as pessimism deepened in the domestic market, with the price of 8-12% grade NPI in East China's Jiangsu province sliding to a 4.5-month low of Yuan 1,395/mtu ($220/mtu) including delivery and the 13% VAT as of December 8. This was lower by Yuan 65/mtu from one week earlier, according to Mysteel's assessment.
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Kanto Tetsugen, the alliance of scrap dealers around Tokyo, which is in charge of Japan's monthly H2 grade scrap export tender, has decided not to take any bids on Thursday for December exports or the second month in a row, as the bidding prices were "too low", shared a Kanto Tetsugen official.
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Over January-November, China's Producer Price Index (PPI) gained pace further, up 7.9% on year, and the on-year increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) picked up the speed too, up 0.9% on year, as both the indices for November grew on year, Mysteel Global noted from the data released by the country's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on December 9.
