Remaining on its sliding trend, the Chinese medium plate market has observed an obvious fall in actual deal prices during the past week.
Product name | Specification | Category | Average price (RMB/mt) | Weekly change (RMB/mt) | Price ($/mt) | Weekly change ($/mt) |
Common carbon medium plate | 20 mm | Q235 | 3,957 | -50 | 580 | -7 |
Low alloy medium plate | 20 mm | Q345 | 4,080 | -55 | 498 | -8 |
Shipbuilding plate | 16 mm | CCS A/B | 4,260 | +60 | 625 | +9 |
Over the past week, medium plate prices in the Chinese domestic medium plate market have declined slightly, though some traders have sold their materials at RMB 20-30/mt ($3-4/mt) below the market levels. With the Chinese New Year holiday (February 14-21) approaching, traders seem uninterested in ordering new materials, resulting in shortages of supplies of some specifications in the current market. Concerned about liquidity levels in the market in the coming period, traders prefer to avoid risks by holding on to their money rather than stockpiling. Due to the upcoming Chinese New Year, many players are expected to take a break from the market starting from next week.
On the mills' side, despite the downward movement in market prices, most mills have kept their prices unchanged and some have even raised prices slightly. Hebei Steel has hiked its ex-factory prices for medium plate by RMB 50/mt ($7/mt), with its 14-20 mm Q235 material now offered at RMB 3,900/mt ($572/mt). Most mills report that, as purchase prices for slab are still above the level of RMB 3,600/mt, it is hard for them to reduce their production costs.
As regards the shipbuilding plate, in recent days traders have hardly any spot stocks left in hand, and are mainly placing orders for end-side customers. Due to elevated costs, traders have continued to offer their materials at high levels, but only to see few takers.
Currently, export quotations of 10-50 mm x 2,438 mm x 6,096 mm SS400 plate from China are at around $560/mt FOB for late March shipment. It is heard that medium plate from Chinese mills are generally offered at $550-565/mt FOB, with some mills reporting active bookings of orders.
According to the newly-issued figures, China's medium plate exports in December reached 381,300 mt, down 42,200 mt or 9.96 percent year on year, totaling $222 million in value, down $305 million or 57.85 percent compared with the same month in the previous year. The average export price in December was $583.34/mt. Total medium plate exports in January-December reached 3.2464 million mt, down 4.7045 million mt or 59.17 percent, amounting to a total value of $2.257 billion, down $5.976 billion or 72.58 percent year on year.
Medium plate imports in December stood at 93,500 mt, down 10,900 mt or 10.41 percent year on year, totaling $116 million in value, down $65 million or 35.8 percent compared with the same month of the previous year. The average import price was $1,237.62/mt. Total January-December medium plate imports came to 1.1881 million mt, down 83,500 mt or 6.57 percent, amounting to $1.628 billion in value, down $460 million or 22.04 percent year on year.