Chinese domestic steel section prices mostly move up slightly

Chinese domestic steel section prices have fluctuated during the past week, with a majority of prices rising slightly on week-on-week basis.

As for billet, prices of the semi-finished steel product in the Chinese domestic market have moved upwards in the past seven days. In Tangshan, the current price of Q235 150 x 150 mm square billet is at RMB 3,450/mt ($488/mt), the price of 165 x 225 mm rectangular billet stands at RMB 3,470/mt ($491/mt), while the price of 20MnSi billet is at around RMB 3,550/mt ($502/mt). The prices are all ex-mill, including 13 percent VAT.

Overall trading activity in the local Chinese steel section market has been at normal levels in the past week. With the influence of production restrictions and the slight improvement on the demand side ahead of the National Day holiday, most traders chose to increase their prices at the beginning of last week. However, given the decreases in trading activity recently and the slight reductions in raw material futures prices, most steel section quotations were reduced slightly again but are still a little higher compared to one week earlier. As for the coming period, against the backdrop of production restrictions and the fact that market inventory may not increase strongly during the holiday period, it is believed that domestic steel section prices will move sideways during the holiday and may indicate small fluctuations after the holiday.  

The prices are all ex-mill, including 13 percent VAT.

$1 = RMB 7.07