Chinese steel plate market still on the rise as mills raise their prices

During the week ending January 12, steel plate prices in China have continued the uptrend of the previous week, but have not met with much interest from customers. As of January 12, the average prices of steel plate products in the main Chinese cities are as follows:

The price hike announcements made by domestic plate producers have helped to drive up market prices. In Shanghai, inventories of thick plate and low alloy plate are at high levels, whereas inventories of common carbon medium plate are noticeably on the short side. At present, 20 mm common carbon medium plate is offered at RMB 4,930/mt ($745/mt) in the Shanghai market, and is registering better demand as compared with low alloy steel plate. During the week in question, lower steel plate prices have disappeared as most second tier mills have followed the example of the price hikes announced by the first tier mills.

In the Tianjin market, buyers are not very interested in the higher steel plate offers of local mills and traders. In the context of lackluster demand and further price increases, more market players have chosen to adopt a wait-to-see strategy. Nevertheless, local traders still think that local prices for steel plate products will continue to stay at high levels.

In the Lecong market, despite the increased number of inquiries from customers, there has been no big change in actual demand. During the current week, Baosteel Group has announced a hike of RMB 100/mt ($15/mt) in medium plate prices for February. Most traders are now expecting to see more increases following the Chinese Spring Festival in consideration of high production costs.

For the coming seven days, it is expected that steel plate prices will continue to rise in the Chinese domestic market.