Local Chinese longs prices fall over weekend amid weak demand

As of July 4, average Chinese domestic rebar and wire rod prices have moved down sharply due to weak demand and transportation disruptions, resulting in a week-on-week decrease following the previous slight price rises. 

The average rebar price has decreased by RMB 53/mt week on week, while the average wire rod price has lost RMB 33/mt. Rebar prices have decreased by RMB 103/mt since Friday.

During the given week, rebar and wire rod prices in the local market in China edged up first but moved down later. Currently, some steelmakers have started to implement maintenance in advance to ensure output reductions and due to narrow profit margins, expecting this to bolster rebar and wire rod prices. In the past two weeks, transaction activities in the rebar and wire rod market improved to some extent, though still remaining weak due to the traditional offseason, and some regions have even suffered from floods and high temperatures.

Heavy rains are expected to continue this week after Typhoon Chiba hit the country's southern coastline.

It is thought that rebar and wire rod prices in the Chinese domestic market will likely fluctuate within a limited range in the coming week, with a negative bias.

On July 4, rebar futures contract (rb2210) offers closed at RMB 4,168/mt ($622/mt) at Shanghai Futures Exchange, down RMB 106/mt ($16/mt) or 2.5 percent compared to June 27.

Average domestic rebar and wire rod prices in China's main markets are presented in the tables below.  

Rebar prices in local markets

All prices include 13 percent VAT and all prices are ex-warehouse.

 Wire rod prices in local markets

All prices include 13 percent VAT and all prices are ex-warehouse.

$1 = RMB 6.7071