China rebar price refreshes 9.5-year high

On April 25, China's national HRB 400E 20mm rebar price refreshed its 9.5-year high, reaching Yuan 5,203/tonne ($801.3/t) including the 13% VAT, while spot sales of construction steel reversed down by 26.5% from last Friday, both according to Mysteel's surveys. April 25 is a make-up working day in China.

On Sunday, spot rebar price strengthened for the fourth working day by another Yuan 66/t from April 23, and the daily trading volume of construction steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among China's 237 steel traders under Mysteel's tracking shed 81,562 tonnes/day on day to 226,074 t/d after having soared for two working days.

As of April 25, the Tangshan Q235 150mm square billet price in North China's Hebei province, a barometer of China's spot steel market sentiment, gained for the second working day, up another Yuan 30/t from last Friday to Yuan 4,980/t EXW including the VAT, according to Mysteel's daily assessment.

The recent high prices of the series of ferrous commodities have, to some extent, curtailed traders' enthusiasm for speculative buying, making them act cautiously especially when the Labour Day holiday over May 1-5 are just a few days away, market sources said.

China's steel market sentiment appeared intact in the coming couple of months, as suggested by the most-traded October rebar contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE), which gained by Yuan 87/t or 1.7% from the settlement price in the prior day, closing the day-time trading session of April 23 at Yuan 5,299/t.

Written by Rong Zhang, zhangronga@mysteel.com

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