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 the Chinese market participants.
Rebar & wire rod: The prices of these longs may soften further over October 25-29, as operations at the construction sites in North China have been slowed by the dropping temperatures, while demand in East China has been lukewarm.
Besides, rebar stocks at China’s 137 steelmakers under Mysteel’s tracking reversed from six weeks of declines, up 3.2% on week to 2.4 million tonnes as of October 21.
Hot-rolled coil: This price may decline in the week ending October 29, as most end-users have been reluctant to stock up with limited bookings for their products, though the pressure from the stocks may not be much, as by October 21, HRC stocks in the commercial warehouses of China’s 55 cities under Mysteel’s survey declined for the second week by another 3.3% on week to 3.8 million tonnes, mainly due to less production.
Cold-rolled coil: The price may decline modestly in the week to October 29, as most market participants have adopted a pessimistic stance, mainly due to tepid demand from end-users.
Medium plate: The price is likely to be narrowly rangebound over October 25-29, as decline in stocks at both Chinese traders and mills on the maintenance stoppages. Steel producers, however, may be propelled to raise their list prices to be breakeven.
Sections: The price is expected to be narrowly fluctuating in the week ending October 29, as there is limited room for the prices to decline further with producers’ making little or no profit, despite that the Q235 150mm square billet price in North China’s Tangshan under Mysteel’s assessment fell for the second week, down another Yuan 210/tonne ($33/t) on week to Yuan 4,990/t EXW including the VAT as of October 24.
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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