During the week ending November 3, domestic prices of billet in China have indicated a decreasing trend, though slab prices have moved sideways, while transaction activity in the overall market has been at low levels. Average prices of steel billet and slab in the local Chinese market are presented in the following table.
During the given week, the soft trend of iron ore prices has weakened the support for domestic semi-finished steel prices in China. Meanwhile, since profit margins are tight for rolled steel products, purchases of semi-finished steel are on the low side, forcing steelmakers to lower their semi-finished steel sales prices. Amid tight profitability, some steelmakers plan to carry out maintenance work or reduce production capacity utilization, which will increase the sluggishness of activity in the semi-finished steel market. It is expected that semi-finished steel prices in the Chinese market will continue their downward trend in the coming week.
| Product Name | Spec. | Category | City | Price (RMB/mt) | Price ($/mt) | Weekly Change (RMB/mt) |
| Billet | 150 mm x 150 mm | Q195-Q235 | Tangshan | 1,65 | 260 | ↓50 |
| Jinzhong | 1,63 | 257 | ↓50 | |||
| Fuzhou | 1,7 | 268 | ↓20 | |||
| Jiangyin | 1,75 | 276 | ↓50 | |||
| Average price | 1,683 | 265 | ↓42 | |||
| Billet | 150 mm x 150 mm | 20 MnSi | Tangshan | 1,77 | 279 | ↓60 |
| Jinzhong | 1,75 | 276 | ↓50 | |||
| Fuzhou | 1,8 | 283 | ↓20 | |||
| Jiangyin | 1,85 | 291 | ↓50 | |||
| Average price | 1,793 | 282 | ↓45 | |||
| Slab | 250*1800*6000 | Q235 | Tangshan,Hebei | 1,72 | 271 | 0 |
The prices are on actual weight basis, 17 percent VAT is included in all prices and all prices are ex-warehouse.
$1 = RMB 6.35