Following the rapid rebound of the previous week, the medium plate market in China has entered a fluctuating phase over the past week. Affected by the price correction observed in the domestic markets for other steel products, local medium plate prices have been fluctuating within a limited range, with a slight decline seen in the last few days.
Product name | Specification | Category | Average price (RMB/mt) | Weekly change (RMB/mt) | Price ($/mt) | Weekly change ($/mt) |
Common carbon medium plate | 20 mm | Q235 | 3,547 | +10 | 520 | +1 |
Low alloy medium plate | 20 mm | Q345 | 3,705 | +40 | 543 | +6 |
16 mm | CCS A/B | 3,963 | - | 581 | - |
Under the influence of the recovery in the steel futures market, the Chinese steel market began to enter a fluctuating phase over the past week. Due to the price fall seen in the HRC market, medium plate prices have indicated a slight decline in the last few days. If local hot rolled prices slide down further, the domestic medium plate market will lack support and will thus likely see a further decrease.
In northern China, following the sudden arrival of the cold weather, snowfalls have caused considerable difficulty for transportation. Meanwhile, trading activity has seemed quite flat in the past week. In addition, mills' ex-factory price policies have given traders little room to make a profit, and so most players are still maintaining a wait-and-see stance as regards trading activity.
In southern China, certain improvements have been observed in market trading. At the beginning of the week, some end-side buyers who were worried that prices could become too high began to make purchases; however, as prices started to move on a stable trend, the trading performance became somewhat slacker.
According to reports, some first tier mills that have consistently maintained their production at full capacity now plan to carry out overhauling works, which is good news for the future market. Jinan Steel is scheduled to overhaul its medium plate production line from November 5 to November 16, with a total output of around 50,000 mt expected to be affected.
With regard to shipbuilding plate, the shipbuilding industry is currently experiencing slack demand. At present, the global shipbuilding industry is faced with the double difficulty of reduced ship orders and falling ship prices. In the first nine months of this year, China's shipbuilding enterprises registered a 70 percent year-on-year drop in new orders received.