Below is the brief near-term outlook for five key steel products Mysteel shares on a weekly basis, drawing upon the results of related surveys and communication with Chinese market participants.
Rebar & wire rod: Prices of these longs may be narrowly range-bound over November 14-18, as the room for demand to improve further is limited with the traditional slack season for construction steel consumption approaching.
Besides, most traders tend to stay cautious and keep their stocks at a low level. Accordingly, rebar stocks at 429 warehouses in 132 Chinese cities under Mysteel’s tracking declined by 4.6% on week to 5.9 million tonnes as of November 10.
Hot-rolled coil: This price may decline modestly in the week ending November 18, as most end-users only procure to fulfill their immediate demand, given few orders at hand. However, more speculative deals have been concluded on improved market sentiment after the Chinese government announced a series of optimizations to COVID prevention and containment measures last Friday.
Cold-rolled coil: The price may ease this week, as most traders have been willing to sell off stocks even at lower prices to reduce potential risks. As of November 10, CRC stocks at 182 warehouses in 29 Chinese cities under Mysteel’s tracking stood at 1.95 million tonnes, down by 1.8% on week.
Medium plate: The price is likely to grow over November 14-18 amid improved market sentiment. Besides, the low supply from mills may continue to lend support to the prices. As of November 9, plate output at 37 Chinese steelmakers under Mysteel’s tracking was assessed at 1.4 million tonnes, despite an on-week growth of 2,000 tonnes.
Sections: Prices are expected to slip this week, as the mismatch between supply and demand will continue to weigh on the prices, though the Q235 150mm square billet price in North China’s Tangshan under Mysteel’s assessment edged up by Yuan 10/tonne ($1.4/t) from November 6 to Yuan 3,520/t EXW and including the 13% VAT as of November 13.
Written by Villanelle Xia, xiayi@mysteel.com
Note: This article has been written in accordance with an article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and SteelMint.
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