Over the past week (March 24-30), the Chinese large and medium size section market has remained on a rising trend, though increasing at a comparatively slower pace than in the previous week. Despite some declines in section prices seen in the middle of the past week, the total increase in market prices during the week as a whole reached RMB 100/mt ($15/mt). As of March 30, average prices of section steels in China's main cities are as follows:
Product Name |
Specification |
Category |
Average Price (RMB/mt) |
Weekly change (RMB/mt) |
Price ($/mt) |
Weekly change ($/mt) |
Angle |
50 mm x 50 mm x 5 m |
Q235 |
4,082 |
+78 |
599 |
+11 |
Channel |
Q235 |
4,178 |
+74 |
613 |
+11 |
|
I-beam |
250 mm x 118 mm x 10 m |
Q235 |
4,240 |
+96 |
622 |
+14 |
In the Shanghai market, the price of 50 mm x 50 mm x 5 m angle is at RMB 4,250/mt ($623/mt). The same product is sold at the same price in the Tangshan market, while it is sold at RMB 4,130/mt ($606/mt) in the Guangzhou market. Meanwhile, prices of 160 mm x 65 mm x 8.5 m channel stand at RMB 4,220/mt ($619/mt) in the Shanghai market, at RMB 4,200/mt ($616/mt) in Tangshan and at RMB 4,250/mt ($623/mt) in the Guangzhou market. In the Shanghai and Guangzhou markets, I-beam prices stand respectively at RMB 4,280/mt ($628/mt) and RMB 4,150/mt ($622/mt). The prices are all ex-mill, including 17 percent VAT.
During the last week, large domestic mills mostly raised their offers for section steel products. Specifically, Anhui Province-based Maanshan Steel hiked both its angle and channel prices by RMB 180/mt ($26/mt), while Henan Province-based Anyang Steel raised its angle and channel prices by RMB 50/mt (7/mt). At the same time, Guangxi Province-based Liuzhou Steel announced an increase of RMB 80/mt ($12/mt) for both angle and channel products. The mills' efforts to hike prices have helped boost the confidence of traders to a great degree.
During the week in question, semi-finished prices in Tangshan, Hebei Province have surged up significantly; thus common carbon billet of 150 mm x 150 mm size is now priced at RMB 3,880/mt ($569/mt) in the region, up RMB 180/mt ($26/mt) from the previous week. In the context of the rapid increases seen in the semi-finished market, section mills have started to adopt a wait-and-see stance and to put off shipments of their products.
As the weather gets warmer, market demand will gradually become stronger. It is expected that the price uptrend will continue in the short term in the large and medium section market in Shanghai.