China: Domestic Billet Prices Climb in Early Trading Sessions

The price of billet in Tangshan today in the morning for Changli area moved up by RMB 80/MT reaching RMB 3,510/MT, cash including tax. Today the traders are gradually coming back from New Year Holidays and market is active with notable price upswing of RMB 100 in finished steels. The specific transactions are as follows:

Billet: The mill direct sale is smooth. The spot price has increased to RMB 3,620 from the earlier position of RMB 3,600-3,610, ex-warehouse including tax with some transactions. The transaction of finished steel is overall plain though some market is acceptable. It is expected that the billet price will continue to go up RMB 20 late today.

Construction steel: The construction steel in Tangshan market is stable. Now the Rebar HRB400 of big size is at RMB 3,720/MT and small size at RMB 3,760 while coiled rebar at RMB 3,780.

Section steel: the section steel saw an increase of RMB 80-120 and now the mainstream offer of I beam is at RMB 3,900,channel steel at RMB 3,880-3,900,angles at RMB 3,900-3,930 with low-cost resources seeing acceptable transaction and transaction became difficult after price upswing. As of 10:30am, of the 16 mills being tracked in Tangshan, the sales totaled 15,450 tons, of which 5 mills sold 1,650 tons of I beams, 5 mills sold 5,800 tons of channels, and 6 mills sold 8,000 tons of angles steels.

HRC: The HRC market in Tangshan has slightly increased by RMB 10 with 3.0mm coils now offered at RMB 3,710, 5.5mm flattened at RMB 3,690 and Q345 flattened at RMB 3,850.

Medium plate: The price of mid-plate went up by RMB 80 and now 14-22 mm mainstream plate is offered at RMB 3,900 and low alloy plate is at RMB 4,100.