Chinese Rebar Price Dips Further, Sales Recover

China's national average benchmark price for HRB 400 20mm dia rebar dipped another Yuan 15/tonne ($2.1/t) on day to Yuan 3,693/t including 13% VAT as of February 18, after hovering around its 33-month low for the past three days. Trading was inactive in the steel market due to the ongoing battles against the Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia, according to Mysteel's data.

On the same day, domestic sales volume of long steel products comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil recovered and hit above 10,000 tonnes/day, or up 7.1% on day to 10,219 t/d, according to Mysteel's daily transaction report on 237 sampled traders across the country.

With constant dips in rebar price, more long steel producers chose to halt their production by engaging in maintenance work or by lowering their furnace capacity utilization rate, Mysteel Global understood.

In East China's Jiangsu province, for example, only four out of the 22 sampled construction steel mills were in normal production. The rest of them were conducting overhauls on their blast furnaces or rolling lines, according to a Shanghai-based analyst.

Besides, Tangshan Q235 150mm square billet price, a major indicator of the Chinese domestic steel market situation, was still hovering at its recent three-year low at Yuan 3,000/t EXW and including 13% VAT as of Tuesday, according to Mysteel's daily price tracker.

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