China’s domestic steel prices including the physical and futures markets increased in the first week of January despite the continuing gains in the finished steel stocks, mainly as the remaining high raw materials prices had been supportive, Mysteel Global noted.
Stocks of five major finished steel products at the commercial warehouses of China’s 132 cities gained for the second week over January 1-7, up another 836,100 tonnes or 6.4% on week to nearly 14 million tonnes, Mysteel’s survey showed.
The most traded May iron ore contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange, however, gained Yuan 80.5/tonne ($12.4/t) from the settlement price on December 31 to Yuan 1,067/t when daytime trading session ended on January 8.
Rebar: China’s price of HRB400 20mm dia rebar, therefore, still reversed up Yuan 65/t from December 31 to Yuan 4,432/t including the 13% VAT as of January 8, Mysteel’s data showed, though the demand showed signs of waning with the latest cold snap in most parts of China and the imminent Chinese New Year holiday over February 11-17.
The most-traded May 2021 rebar contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) rose by Yuan 181/t from the settlement price on December 31 to Yuan 4,487/t at the close of daytime trading session on January 8, and its gap against the spot price widened to Yuan 55/t from Yuan 21/t on December 31 in a contango.
Billet: The price of Q235 150mm billet in Tangshan, North China’s Hebei province rebounded by merely Yuan 10/t from December 31 to Yuan 3,800/t EXW and including the 13% VAT as of January 8.
The resilience in the billet price as partly due to the recovering demand from the local re-rollers, as the daily consumption of billet at the 53 local re-rollers under Mysteel’s survey averaged 31,700 tonnes/day in the first week of 2021, or having recovered by 10,900 t/d on week with the local winter restriction having eased on better air quality.
HRC: China’s Q235 4.75mm HRC price gained Yuan 46/t from December 31 to Yuan 4,644/t including the 13% VAT as of January 8, according to Mysteel’s assessment, mainly due to the relatively low stocks and the remaining high raw materials costs.
SHFE’s most-traded May 2021 HRC contract, at the same time, surged more substantially by Yuan 158/t from the settlement price on December 31 to end the daytime trading session of January 8 at Yuan 4,646/t, and the price gap against the spot price narrowed to merely Yuan 2/t from Yuan 56/t on December 31.
Written by Anna Wu, wub@mysteel.com
This article has been published under an article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and SteelMint.
Photo: Wall Street Journal
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