Below is the brief near-term outlook for the five key steel products Mysteel shares on a weekly basis, drawing upon the results of related surveys and communication with Chinese market participants. September 12 was a public holiday for China’s Mid-Autumn Festival.
Rebar & wire rod: The prices of these longs may strengthen over September 13-16, as demand from end-users has been picking up, boosting market sentiment. Rebar stocks at the 429 warehouses in 132 Chinese cities under Mysteel’s tracking slipped by 2.3% on week to 7.5 million tonnes as of September 8.
Hot-rolled coil: This price may be narrowly rangebound in the week ending September 16, as those end-users in urgent need of HRC have taken some tonnage already, but most have been reluctant to stock up.
Cold-rolled coil: The price may fluctuate in a small range this week. Though demand from end-users has been growing, stocks at commercial warehouses have hovered at a high level, weighing on the prices. By September 8, CRC inventories at the 182 warehouses in 29 Chinese cities under Mysteel’s tracking were assessed at 2.1 million tonnes, despite an on-week decline of 17,800 tonnes.
Medium plate: The price is likely to slip over September 13-16, as most traders have been willing to sell some stocks – even at lower prices – to reduce their risks.
Sections: Prices are expected to soften this week, as most end-users in urgent need of sections had procured some tonnage ahead of the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday over September 10-12. The Q235 150mm square billet price in North China’s Tangshan under Mysteel’s assessment had edged up by Yuan 40/tonne ($5.8/t) from September 4 at Yuan 3,720/t EXW and including the 13% VAT as of September 12.
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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