During the week ending June 9, with the leading Chinese plate producers lowering their prices, a pessimistic atmosphere prevailed in the domestic market. On account of the weak transaction volume, players are generally bearish on the prospects for the market in the future. As of June 9, the average plate prices in the main Chinese cities are as follows:
Product name | Specification | Category | Average price (RMB/mt) | Weekly change (RMB/mt) | Price ($/mt) | Weekly change ($/mt) |
Common carbon medium plate | 20 mm | Q235 | 4,367 | -83 | 640 | -12 |
Low alloy medium plate | 20 mm | Q345 | 4, 475 | -90 | 656 | -13 |
Shipbuilding plate | 16 mm | CCS A/B | 4,953 | -20 | 726 | -3 |
Shanghai-based Baosteel issued its new prices for July shipment last Friday, announcing a reduction of RMB 300-500/mt ($44-73/mt) for most steel products, with a decrease of RMB 200/mt ($29/mt) for heavy plate. Baosteel's price announcement has negatively affected market confidence. Meanwhile, Jiangxi-based Xinyu Steel also lowered its ex-work prices, with a reduction of RMB 100/mt ($15/mt) for both medium plate and special plate. As a result, this producer's ex-work prices for Q235 14-20 mm plate and Q235 14-20 mm low alloy plate currently stand at RMB 4,550/mt ($667/mt) and RMB 4,700/mt ($689/mt) respectively, while its ex-works prices for CCSA 16-20 mm shipbuilding plate, Q245R 16-20 mm boiler plate and Q345R 16-20 mm boiler plate stand respectively at RMB 4,900/mt ($718/mt), 4,850/mt ($711/mt) and 5,000/mt ($733/mt).
On the traders' side, due to the relatively high costs of materials purchased previously, traders are generally incurring losses. Over the past week, market inventories posted a week-on-week decline, but are still up by nearly 100 percent compared with the corresponding period last year. The domestic plate market is characterized with sluggishness due to weak demand from the downstream industry, and also due to the uncertainties surrounding official government policy.
On the export front, it is heard that importing countries including South Korea have suspended their imports of plate from China at the current time, due to concerns over possible changes in China's export rebate policy.