China’s national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar decreased for the third working day on May 17 to reach Yuan 5,826/tonne ($905/t) including the 13% VAT, slumping by Yuan 274/t on day, according to Mysteel’s assessment.
Also on Monday, domestic sales of construction steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 Chinese steel traders Mysteel canvasses declined 8,450 tonnes/day or 4.9% on day to 164,630 tonnes, coming in under the 200,000 tonnes/days threshold for the third working day, the data shows.
In tandem with the thinning spot steel prices, rebar futures prices weakened further, with the most-traded rebar contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange for October delivery slipping for the third working day on May 17 by another Yuan 165/t or 2.9% from last Friday’s settlement price to close the daytime trading session at Yuan 5,596/t.
The significant pullbacks in both spot and futures prices Monday have eased worries among market participants about overheating steel prices. Nonetheless, most traders remain rather cautious, arguing that the high prices reasonably reflect the mills’ relatively high production costs.
As of May 17, the price of Q235 150mm square billet in North China’s Tangshan, a barometer of Chinese steel market sentiment, had increased by Yuan 20/t from May 16 to Yuan 5,540 /t EXW including the VAT after losing Yuan 300/t over the prior two assessment days, Mysteel’s monitoring showed.
Written by Rong Zhang, zhangronga@mysteel.com
This article has been published under an article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and SteelMint.
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