Medium plate market sees slight downward trend

SteelOrbis Shanghai In week 47, the medium plate markets in most regions slipped down slightly, while only in some southern regions did prices climb up a little. The trading volume for the week was low. On November 29, the average price of 16 mm thick Q235 B in Shanghai, Tianjin and Lecong was down RMB 7/mt from a week ago to RMB 3,550/mt ($453) week on week, while that of 16 mm Q345 B was down RMB 10/mt to RMB 3,675/mt ($467). Due to the lack of any other big news, the current market trend basically reflects the steel mills' ex-factory prices. The leading market prices in northern and eastern China moved steadily down throughout the past week. However, some southern markets such as the Lecong market saw a small rebound – the result of the cost pressure rather than market and trading performances. In comparison with other regional markets, the Lecong market is quite cautious about price adjustments. So the rebound this time was an indication that traders were no longer willing to accept lower margins and had to hike the prices despite the bearish commercial activity. With regard to the northern and eastern China markets, prices for some products also went up over the past week. For example, due to the high settlement prices, supply from Yingkou Steel even touched RMB 3,600/mt ($460) in Shanghai - nearly RMB 100/mt ($13) higher than the other mills. In addition, the Tianjin market is expected to climb up slightly in the coming days because of the announcement of price policy of Tianjin Steel. As regards shipbuilding plate, since the exports situation is quite good this year, prices remained stable in the domestic market. At present, the deal price of Chinese shipbuilding plate exported to Singapore is at $580/mt CFR. However, mainstream quotations have already reached $600-610/mt CFR. With the release of the various mills' price adjustments by the end of the month, the market is expected to see a number of fluctuations in the coming week.