China: Rebar price and spot steel sales dip

On March 9, China's national price of the HRB400 20mm dia rebar reversed down, dipping Yuan 28/tonne ($4.3/t) on day, and the spot sales volume of construction steel including rebar fell too by 14.8% on day, Mysteel's survey showed.

On Tuesday, the rebar price was assessed at Yuan 4,739/t including the 13% VAT, and the spot trading volume of construction steel including rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among China's 237 steel traders declined by 27,272 tonnes/day on day to 156,586 t/d, according to Mysteel's tracking.

As of Tuesday, most traders have lowered the offering prices for rebar, in response to the slump in the prices of both iron ore and rebar futures.

The most-traded May rebar contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) closed the daytime trading session at Yuan 4,592/t or down 3.9% from the settlement price of March 8, in tandem with a plunge off Yuan 114/dmt in the most-traded May iron ore contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange and a slump of 10.1/dmt on day in Mysteel SEADEX 62% Australian Fines to $163.35/dmt CFR Qingdao, as reported.

As of March 9, the Tangshan Q235 150mm square billet price in North China's Hebei province, also slipped by Yuan 50/t to Yuan 4,340/t EXW including the VAT, according to Mysteel's assessment, as the local demand for billet is expected to decline in the near term with the intensified control over steel operations amid the worsening air pollution over March 9-11.

Written by Yi Xia, xiayi@mysteel.com

This article has been published under an article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and SteelMint.

Photo Credit: World Steel Association