Below is the brief near-term outlook of the five key steel products Mysteel shares on a weekly basis, drawing upon the results of related surveys and communication with market participants.
Rebar & wire rod: The prices of these long steel products might ease further over 11-15, which is mainly due to the colder days, China’s stepping up efforts in curtailing the spread of the COVID-19, and the traders’ cautiousness in winter restocking despite just a few weeks away from the Chinese New Year holiday.
Hot-rolled coil: The HRC price may lose some steam in the week ending January 15, as the stocks build-up seem inevitable on transportation disruption in North China because of the new confirmed cases in Shijiazhuang, North China’s Hebei province. HRC stocks in China’s 55 cities increased by 6.2% on week to 2.86 million tonnes as of January 7.
Cold-rolled coil: The price is likely to spiral down in the week to January 15, as the traders tend to sell off products while the margins are still higher but the buying interest has been softening and fewer deals have been concluded so far in January.
Medium plate: The price may gain moderately in the second week of January, mainly underpinned by higher production costs and the arrival of higher-priced cargoes to the traders from the producers.
Sections: The prices are forecast to decline in the week ending January 15, mainly because of the dropping temperature and weakening demand in general as more end-users have taken on a wait-and-see attitude. The price of the Q235 150mm square billet in Tangshan, North China’s Hebei, has been stable in general, gaining Yuan 10/tonne ($1.5/t) on week to Yuan 3,800/t as of January 10.
This article has been published under an article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and SteelMint.
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