China’s steel prices, which had been showing a falling trend, may have bottomed out and can do a turnaround in the second quarter (Q2) of the current calendar. Data from China’s National Bureau of Statistics, maintained by BigMint, reveal that both benchmarked HRC and rebar prices in Tangshan dropped 6% y-o-y in January-February 2024. Average HRC prices hovered at RMB 4,108/t ($568/t) in January-February, 2024 against RMB 4,353/t ($602/t) in the same two months in 2023. Rebar too dropped from RMB 4,108/t ($568/t) to RMB 3,881/t ($537/t) in this period. It may be noted prices had upped slightly in the third week of January this year but had backed down quickly early February onwards.
