During the week ending October 31, medium plate prices in the Chinese domestic market have continued to slide down. As of October 31, the market prices of medium plate products in China are as follows:
Product name |
Specification |
Category |
Average price (RMB/mt) |
Weekly change (RMB/mt) |
Price ($/mt) |
|
Common carbon medium plate |
20 mm |
Q235 |
4,320 |
-100 |
684 |
-16 |
Low alloy medium plate |
20 mm |
Q345 |
4,430 |
-20 |
701 |
-3 |
Shipbuilding plate |
16 mm |
CCS A/B |
4,737 |
-150 |
749 |
-24 |
($1=RMB 6.32)
Many domestic steel mills have announced reductions in their ex-mill prices of steel plate as production costs have fallen. Accordingly, most traders are eager to sell their inventories at low prices. On the other hand, end-users are quite inactive and are maintaining a waiting stance. They are just purchasing only in order to meet immediate needs, especially due to the limited availability of funds. The low activity levels in the market have raised the concerns of traders. Despite the increasing amount of overhaul work being carried out by steel mills, steel outputs have not yet decreased significantly. China's steel plate market is now characterized by a destocking process, while at the same time there has been an increase in competitively priced steel plate supplies produced in the north of China.
After the domestic steel futures market rebounded on October 28, the price downtrend of the steel plate spot market started to slow down, with some price upticks even seen in some regions.
On the whole, it is expected that the domestic steel plate market in China will continue its weak pricing trend in the coming week.