During the week ending August 27, Chinese domestic semi-finished steel prices have continued to fall amid the escalation of US-China trade tensions and due to the supply-demand imbalance. Billet prices (Q195-235) in Tangshan have dropped the most, by RMB 150/mt or $21/mt over the week. Transaction activity in the market has been at low-to-medium levels. Average prices of steel billet and slab in the local Chinese market are presented in the following table.
Product name |
Specification (mm) |
Category |
City |
Price |
Price (USD/mt) |
Weekly Change |
Weekly Change |
150 x 150 |
Q195-235 |
Jiangyin,Jiangsu |
3,500 |
494.3 |
-50 |
-7 |
|
Jinzhong,Shanxi |
3,350 |
473.1 |
-90 |
-13 |
|||
Tangshan,Hebei |
3,290 |
464.6 |
-150 |
-21 |
|||
Fuzhou,Fujian |
3,500 |
494.3 |
-80 |
-11 |
|||
Average price |
3,410 |
481.6 |
-93 |
-13 |
|||
150 x 150 |
20MnSi |
Jiangyin,Jiangsu |
3,620 |
511.2 |
-50 |
-7 |
|
Jinzhong,Shanxi |
3,450 |
487.2 |
-90 |
-13 |
|||
Tangshan,Hebei |
3,390 |
478.7 |
-150 |
-21 |
|||
Fuzhou,Fujian |
3,600 |
508.4 |
-80 |
-11 |
|||
Average price |
3,515 |
496.4 |
-93 |
-13 |
|||
250 x 1,800 x 6,000 |
Q235 |
Tangshan,Hebei |
3,400 |
480.2 |
-20 |
-3 |
During the given week, US-China trade tensions escalated, exerting a negative impact on sentiment as regards the prospect for the finished steel market in China. Meanwhile, oversupply was observed in the domestic semi-finished steel market, negatively affecting prices.
Chinese steelmakers will likely increase capacity utilization rates in September due to the easing of production restrictions, but the increase may not be as significant as expected, taking into account the ongoing lack of improvement in demand. Moreover, iron ore prices have edged down, also weakening the support for semi-finished steel prices. It is expected that semi-finished steel prices in the Chinese domestic market will move down further in the coming week.