During the week ending July 2, the Chinese steel plate market has continued to trend down. The average prices of steel plate in the main cities in China can be viewed in the SteelOrbis price reports section.
Due to slow market activity and declining prices, most steel plate traders in China are anxious and lack confidence in the future prospects of the market. As regards the month of July, early predictions for the domestic steel plate market are not positive.
Chinese steelmaker Shagang Group has issued its new price policy for July, reducing its medium plate price by RMB 150/mt ($23/mt). Meanwhile, Guangdong Province-based Shaoguan Steel Corporation has announced a reduction of RMB 400/mt ($63/mt) in its shipbuilding plate offers. On the whole, most steel producers have cut their offers recently, which means less support for prices in the domestic market.
It is expected that the Chinese steel plate market will continue to maintain its soft trend in the short term.