During the week ending October 20, the Chinese steel plate market has been on a soft trend due to the sluggish market transaction situation and continuing pressure from high inventories. Most traders have lost confidence as regards the prospects for the future market. As of October 20, average steel plate prices in the main Chinese cities are as follows:
Product name |
Specification |
Category |
Average price (RMB/mt) |
Weekly change (RMB/mt) |
Price ($/mt) |
Weekly change ($/mt) |
Common carbon medium plate |
20 mm |
Q235 |
4,423 |
-44 |
663 |
-7 |
Low alloy medium plate |
20 mm |
Q345 |
4,630 |
-20 |
694 |
-3 |
Shipbuilding plate |
16 mm |
CCS A/B |
4,720 |
- |
708 |
- |
Following the uptrend in the previous week, domestic buyers have abstained from purchases of steel plate products, causing plate prices to decline during the past week. Market players are also increasingly cautious given the rise in inventory levels.
Compared with carbon medium plate, market prices of shipbuilding plate, boiler plate and container plate have been characterized by greater stability, despite the slowness in sales activity. The weather is expected to get cold sooner than usual in the northern region, with more supplies thus thought likely to be shipped from the north to the southern region. Meanwhile, in the southern region, neither traders nor end-users are active in concluding new transactions. A general wait-and-see atmosphere now prevails in the market.
Given the lack of any improvement in demand, China's steel plate market is expected to fluctuate on a downward trend in the coming period.