Over the past week, a general decline has been observed in the prices of large- and medium-size sections in the Chinese domestic market, with the greatest decrease seen in Tangshan in Hebei and a softening registered in the Shanghai and Guangzhou markets. Exceptionally, prices in Beijng remained stable.
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 |
4,210 |
-74 |
617 |
-11 |
Channel |
160 mm x 65 mm x 8.5 m |
Q235 |
4,380 |
-70 |
642 |
-10 |
I-beam |
250 mm x 118 mm x 10 m |
Q235 |
4,422 |
-56 |
648 |
-8 |
Currently, the prices of 5# angle steel (50 mm x 50 mm x 5 m) in Shanghai, Tangshan and Guangzhou are standing at RMB 4,420/mt ($648/mt), RMB 4,200/mt ($616/mt) and RMB 4,330/mt ($635/mt) respectively. The prices of 16# channel steel (160 mm x 65 mm x 8.5 m) in the respective regions mentioned above are at RMB 4,450/mt ($652/mt), RMB 4,200/mt ($616/mt) and RMB 4,530/mt ($664/mt). As for 25# I-beam (250 mm x 188 mm x 10m), the respective prices are at levels of RMB 4,500/mt ($660/mt), RMB 4,500/mt ($660/mt) and RMB 4,410/mt ($647/mt). All these prices include tax.
In recent days, the domestic billet market has been characterized by some confusion as regards prices and a wait-and-see attitude prevails. While traders are not bullish on the prospects of the market and are offering their billets at lower price levels, billet producers are maintaining their product prices at RMB 4,180/mt ($613/mt), far higher than the mainstream market price of RMB 4,000/mt ($586/mt). At present, the mainstream price of 150 mm x 150 mm common carbon billet from domestic mills in China is RMB 4,000/mt ($586/mt), 165 mm x 165 mm common carbon billet is priced at RMB 4,030/mt ($590/mt), while low alloy billet stands at around RMB 4,120/mt ($604/mt). The billet producers tried to raise their billet prices early in the past week; however, due to poor sales, their price eventually came back down.
Currently, traders are not active in making purchases and market inventory of large- and medium-sized sections is relatively high. Meanwhile on the producers' side, some section producers have started to halt production or carry out overhaul work, while they sell materials from their stocks. For the short term, it is thought that the section market may still have some more room for downward movement.