During the week ending October 29, steel plate prices in the Chinese market have slightly trended up. Average sales prices of steel plate products in the Chinese market can be viewed in the SteelOrbis price reports section.
The uptrend seen in the past week was mainly due to mills' efforts to push up prices in the domestic market. Furthermore, some plate plants are heard to be operating at low capacity utilization rates. In the short term, Chinese steel plate market will continue to see insufficient supplies.
According to the latest report released by HSBC, in October, the purchasing manager index of Chinese manufacturing industry was 49.1, reaching the peak level in the last three months. However, domestic market participants think that it does not indicate any recovery of steel demand.
With no improvement in demand, it's expected that steel plate prices in China will move sideways in the coming week.