China's rebar price down, sales jump on better sentiment

China's national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar under Mysteel's assessment declined further to Yuan 4,236/tonne ($620.7/t) as of February 14, down a touch by Yuan 3/t on day including the 13% VAT, while spot sales of construction steel recorded a marked growth.

On Tuesday, the trading volume of construction steel including rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among 237 Chinese trading houses under Mysteel's tracking surged by 53,648 tonnes/day or 52.2% to 156,396 t/d.

Market sentiment improved to some extent yesterday as the rebar prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) strengthened in the morning session. Though the most-traded rebar contract on the SHFE for May delivery finally edged down by a tiny Yuan 4/t or 0.1% from the settlement price of Monday to close the daytime trading session at Yuan 4,027/t as of Tuesday.

Better sentiment encouraged downstream buyers to return to the market and take tonnage for their near-term production needs, Mysteel Global learned from market sources.

Semis prices also gained some momentum from the improved sentiment on the same day. For example, the Tangshan Q235 150mm square billet price in North China's Hebei province under Mysteel's assessment rose by Yuan 20/t on day to Yuan 3,770/t EXW and including the 13% VAT as of Tuesday.

Written by Winnie Han, hanyueran@mysteel.com

Edited by Alyssa Ren, rentingting@mysteel.com

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