During the week ending September 16, average prices of Chinese domestic rebar and wire rod have mostly moved up, while transaction activity in the overall domestic rebar and wire rod market has been at medium levels. The positive impact from macro policy boosted market players’ sentiment and pushed up rebar and wire rod prices by RMB 30-33/mt ($6/mt) on average.
During the given week, rebar futures prices have moved on a rising trend, exerting a positive impact on rebar and wire rod prices in the spot market. On September 16, rebar futures contract (2001) offers closed at RMB 3,564/mt ($504/mt) at Shanghai Futures Exchange, up $10/mt week on week. Average domestic rebar and wire rod prices in China's main markets are presented in the tables below.
| Product name | Specification (mm) | Category | City | Steel plant/place of origin | Price (RMB/mt) | Price | Weekly change | Weekly change |
| ($/mt) | (RMB/mt) | ($/mt) | ||||||
| Rebar | 25 | HRB400 | Beijing | Hebei Steel | 3,68 | 520.8 | 0 | +1.4 |
| Guangzhou | Shaoguan Steel | 4,1 | 580.2 | 50 | +8.6 | |||
| Shanghai | Shente | 3,75 | 530.7 | 50 | +8.5 | |||
| Average price | 3,843 | 543.9 | 33 | +6.1 |
All prices include 13 percent VAT and all prices are ex-warehouse.
Wire rod prices in local markets
| Product name | Specification (mm) | Category | City | Steel plant/place of origin | Price | Price ($/mt) | Weekly | Weekly change |
| (RMB/mt) | change (RMB/mt) | ($/mt) | ||||||
| Wire rod | 6,5 | HPB300 | Beijing | Hebei Steel | 4,63 | 655.3 | 0 | +1.8 |
| Guangzhou | Shaoguan Steel | 4,21 | 595.8 | 30 | +5.8 | |||
| Shanghai | Shente Steel | 4,05 | 573.2 | 60 | 10 | |||
| Average price | 4,297 | 608.1 | 30 | +5.9 | ||||
| 8 | HPB300 | Beijing | Hebei Steel | 4,48 | 634.0 | 0 | +0.7 | |
| Guangzhou | Shaoguan Steel | 4,16 | 588.7 | 30 | +5.8 | |||
| Shanghai | Shente Steel | 4,05 | 573.2 | 60 | 10 | |||
| Average price | 4,23 | 598.6 | 30 | +5.8 |
All prices include 13 percent VAT and all prices are ex-warehouse.
The announcement by the People’s Bank of China (PBC) cutting the required reserve ratio (RRR) for Chinese financial institutions by 0.5 percentage points has boosted market players’ sentiments, with rebar futures prices moving on an overall uptrend in the given week. At the same time, because of the Mid-Autumn Day holiday, downstream buyers built up some stocks, which also positively affected the rebar and wire rod market.
Meanwhile, Shagang Group, China’s largest private steelmaker, increased its prices for rebar and wire rod by RMB 100/mt ($14/mt) on September 11, signaling a possible upward movement of the Chinese long steel market in the latter part of September. It is expected that rebar and wire rod prices in the Chinese domestic market will edge up further in the coming week.
$1 = RMB 7.07