Medium plate inventory at low level in general

SteelOrbis Shanghai Chinese medium plate prices have moved steadily up over the past week. In particular, the price of common carbon plate increased by a slightly greater margin because of the insufficient supply. Low-alloy plate prices remained stable. Furthermore, trading performances saw an improvement in some regions. On December 5, the average price of 16 mm Q235 B in Shanghai, Tianjin and Lecong was up RMB 17/mt ($2) week on week to RMB 3,567/mt ($456), while that of 16 mm Q345 B remained constant at RMB 3,675/mt ($469). Due to overhauling at the steel mills and the adjustments in their sales policies, the present market is dominated by the mills which have been able to maintain sufficient supplies. Supply levels from Xinyu, Maanshan Steel, Shaoguan Steel, and other leading mills are limited. Maanshan Steel has entered its overhauling period as scheduled, while Shaoguan Steel has reduced its production of common carbon plate. As regards low-alloy, prices continued in their stable trend. In comparison with common carbon, low-alloy supply seems more readily available. With little fluctuations, market prices in Shanghai remained above the level of RMB 3,800/mt ($486). Breaking the Chinese market down into its various regions, prices in the south have been constantly higher than those in the north in recent days, with the price difference in common carbon plate even exceeding RMB 350/mt. Since the ex-factory prices of Shaoguan Steel continued at their high levels in the Guangzhou and Lecong markets, market prices also remained high despite the sluggish trading performance. Due to the price gap, if traders transported northern products to southern regions, they were still able to make a profit. However, as we approach the end of the year, train transportation is quite busy, and so supplies cannot be easily transported in large quantities. With regard to imports and exports, Baosteel declined to change its shipbuilding plate prices for Q1 next year, while the quotations of Chinese shipbuilding plate to Japanese steel mills remained constant at $650/mt FOB. In the future, market prices are expected to see fluctuations within a narrow range. At the current conjuncture, it is relatively normal for the market prices to fluctuate somewhat.