fThe Chinese long products market has mostly fluctuated within a small range during the past week, with prices first going down and then rebounding slightly.
Product name |
Specification |
Category |
Average price (RMB/mt) |
Price ($/mt) |
Weekly change (RMB/mt) |
20 mm |
HRB 335 |
3,720 |
545 |
-10 |
|
20 mm |
HRB 400 |
3,870 |
567 |
-10 |
|
Wire rod |
6.5 mm |
Q235 |
3,670 |
538 |
0 |
In the past week the eastern China market first moved on a weak trend before showing a recovery, against a background of generally weak levels of trading activity. On the mills' side, Yonggang issued unchanged prices in its latest announcement, while Shagang hiked its rebar prices by RMB 50/mt. Moreover, it is heard that Shagang and Yonggang will sharply reduce their longs supply to the market for December due to overhauling works. In this context, market prices in the eastern regions are expected to receive strong support due to the expected reduction in supplies from eastern-based mills in December.
In the past week, the southern market registered the best performance of the regions in the country, with positive trading activity and decreased inventory levels seen. Meanwhile, Guangzhou Steel and Shaoguan Steel successively raised their ex-factory prices.
The long products market in the north has remained on a declining trend on the whole over the past week. Affected by the bad weather and other factors, the market has seemed quite bearish in a context of slack demand levels.
By the end of last week, total rebar inventory in all sample warehouses across China amounted to 4.12925 million mt, up 111,230 mt week on week - marking the third straight week of growth since mid-November. Mainly due to the impact of severe weather conditions on work at northern-based construction sites, in recent days market demand has declined while inventory levels have climbing up.
On the raw materials side, the domestic pig iron market has remained on its rising trend; meanwhile, the scrap market moved steadily up, with minor hikes made by some Jiangsu Province-based mills to their purchase prices; finally, mainstream quoations in the Chinese billet market have retained their stability, with only prices in Hebei Province seeing a decline, by RMB 90/mt.
Overall, following the continuous increase of raw materials prices, some mills have continued to hike their ex-factory prices for longs. Moreover, some traders and mills still have confidence in the future development of the market and thus seem to prefer to hold their materials in hand. All the above factors have been providing support for market prices to a certain extent. However, the limited trading volume will continue to prevent market prices from rising further, and so the Chinese longs market is expected to fluctuate moderately in the coming week.