At the beginning of last week, major Chinese steelmakers including Anshan Steel and WISCO raised their ex-works prices, boosting optimism among market participants and resulting in increases in traders' steel plate offer prices. However, some downstream enterprises had not yet returned to work after the holiday and so transaction activity in the market was on the slow side. In addition, later in the past week, declines in the steel futures market affected the confidence of traders, leading to downticks in plate prices in the domestic market.
Given that steel plate inventories are not at very high levels and also considering the higher prices for future deliveries, it is unlikely that plate prices will indicate sharp fall in the Chinese market. With the anticipated recovery of demand, it is thought that the Chinese domestic steel plate market will move sideways in the coming week.