Below is the brief near-term outlook of the five key steel products Mysteel shares on a weekly basis, drawing upon the results of related surveys and communication with the Chinese market participants.
Rebar & wire rod: The prices of these longs may be narrowly rangebound over November 29-December 3, as market sentiment has shown signs of improvement on the expectation of loosening control over bank loan issuance to the domestic property market, though demand in North China has subsided with dropping temperatures.
Chinese steel traders, however, have appeared cautious, maintaining their rebar stocks low to minimize the risks in prices, and as of November 25, rebar stocks at the commercial warehouses in China’s 132 cities under Mysteel’s tracking declined for the seventh week, down 6.9% on week to 6.5 million tonnes.
Hot-rolled coil: The steel price may slip in the week ending December 3, as most end-users have been inactive in buying, and traders have been selling off stocks, and HRC stocks at the commercial warehouses in China’s 55 cities under Mysteel’s survey, thus, had declined for the seventh week as of November 25 though at a slower pace of 3.1% to 3.2 million tonnes.
Cold-rolled coil: The price may ease this week, as traders have had challenges in lightening their load amid market bearishness, and CRC stocks at the commercial warehouses in China’s 29 cities under Mysteel’s declined the least on week, down just 0.8% to 1.86 million tonnes by November 25, and stocks at the 29 Chinese steel mills grew for the fifth week by another 1.5% to 346,800 tonnes by November 24.
Medium plate: The price is likely to incline over November 29-December 3, as spot trading appeared more active in the prior week, though demand in general has been lower than expected.
Sections: The price is expected to decline modestly in the week ending December 3, as end-users have procured only for immediate needs, and traders have been offloading their stocks out of precaution, despite that the price of the Q235 150mm square billet in Tangshan, North China’s Hebei, increased for the second week by another Yuan 40/tonne ($6.3/t) to Yuan 4,290/t EXW including the VAT as of November 28, according to Mysteel’s assessment.
Written by Villanelle Xia, xiayi@mysteel.com
This article has been published under an article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and SteelMint.
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