During the week ending March 26, prices in the Chinese steel plate market have continued to trend up slightly on the back of mills' efforts to push up prices and declining market inventories. Average prices of steel plate in China can be viewed in the SteelOrbis price reports section.
In the given week, the demand from downstream sectors for steel plate products has not yet seen any remarkable improvement, and this has limited the increase margin for prices. However, considering the continuing decrease in market inventory as well as anticipated higher market prices, traders are now relatively upbeat, especially as the traditional peak season for demand is approaching.
As of March 25, the total inventory of medium plate in the main Chinese markets amounted to 1.52 million mt, down 11,000 mt compared to March 16, representing a sixth consecutive week of decline in medium plate inventory in China.
It is expected that in the coming week steel plate prices in the Chinese domestic market will continue to move up slightly.