Near-term outlook on China's key steel products

Below is the brief near-term outlook of the five key steel products Mysteel shares on a weekly basis, drawing upon the results of related surveys and communication with market participants.

Rebar & wire rod: The price may continue to move down over August 17-21 after the moderate easing in the prior week, partly as the most-traded rebar contract price on the Shanghai Futures Exchange indicated the ebbing of the market enthusiasm.

Hot-rolled coil: The prices may hold firm in North China but edge down in the southern region as HRC deliveries to the provinces in South China may rise soon, fanning oversupply concerns in the local markets.

Cold-rolled coil: Market participants expect the price to stay rangebound over August 17-21, citing a modest increase observed in stocks at the steel mills but a marked decline of 1.4% on week at the traders' inventories as of August 13.

Medium plate: The price may hover at a high level over August 17-21, mainly on the support of robust end-user demand and maintenance outages at the steel mills, and Liuzhou Steel, for example, will conduct the maintenance at its plate rolling facilities until August 25, which will lend support to prices.

Sections: The price may soften moderately over August 17-21 under the pressure of tepid spot trading and weakening price of billet, the key feed for sections mills. The Q235 150mm square billet in Tangshan, for example, softened by Yuan 20/tonne ($2.9/t) on week as of August 14 to Yuan 3,420/t EXW including the 13% VAT.

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

Photo: World Steel