In December last year, the purchasing managers index (PMI) for the Chinese steel sector was at 44.3 percent, up 4.2 percentage points compared to November, as announced by the China Steel Logistics Committee (CSLC), which is part of the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP).
In December, the production index for the Chinese steel sector stood at 43.4 percent, 41 percentage points higher than that recorded in November. Downstream users needed to build up stocks in winter, providing support for the production index.
In December, the new order index stood at 38.9 percent, 4.4 percentage points higher than that recorded in November.
Meanwhile, in December, the index of raw material purchase prices stood at 59.8 percent, 21.8 percentage points higher than in November, and above 50 percent again after being below 50 percent in the previous seven months.
As for January, steel prices may move sideways amid the approach of the Chinese New Year holiday (January 21-27), while steel prices will likely move up in 2023 after the long holiday as China has issued policies to boost the development of the real estate industry, which will exert a positive impact on the steel market.
