On November 17, China’s national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar fell to a new low since March 12, reaching Yuan 4,723/tonne ($741/t) including the 13% VAT after declining for the third assessment day by another Yuan 12/t, and spot trading of construction steel including rebar reversed from two days of rises, down 13% on day, indicating the speculative trading enthusiasm waned.
On Wednesday, spot trading volume of construction steel also comprising wire rod and bar-in-coil among China’s 237 traders under Mysteel’s tracking lost 25,897 tonnes/day on day to 173,022 t/d, as trading interest ebbed after a one-day spark and end-users had been procuring only for their immediate needs, market sources shared.
On Wednesday, China’s longs prices were unable to source much support from semis, as the Q235 150mm square billet price in North China’s Tangshan hovered at the low since February 22, remaining unchanged for the second day at Yuan 4,180/t EXW including the VAT.
Steelmaking raw materials prices had been on declines too with Chinese steel mills’ cutting their coke procurement price by Yuan 200/t effective November 16 and Mysteel SEADEX 62% Australian Fines also reversed from just one day of recovery, down $0.6/dmt on day to $89.65/dmt CFR Qingdao.
China’s steel market near-term outlook appeared dismal, as the most-popular May 2022 rebar contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange slipped by Yuan 68/t or 1.7% from the settlement price of November 16 to close the daytime trading session at Yuan 3,885/t as of November 17.
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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