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 the Chinese market participants.

Rebar & wire rod: The prices of these longs may hover over August 9-13, mainly due to limited output and lacklustre demand. Rebar stocks at the 137 steelmakers Mysteel tracks reversed up last week after four weeks of declines, jumping by 271,900 tonnes on week to 3.37 million tonnes as of August 5 and showing that buyers were reluctant to take much tonnage last week.

Hot-rolled coil: This price may soften in the week ending August 13 as a consequence of steady output from mills and sluggish demand from end-users. As of August 5, HRC stocks in commercial warehouses in the 55 cities Mysteel surveys remained steady, edging down by 11,100 tonnes on week to 4.1 million tonnes.

Cold-rolled coil: The CRC price is likely to be rangebound in the week to August 13, as the narrow price spread between HRC and CRC is supporting CRC prices. However, demand from end-users remains sluggish during the slack consumption period.

Medium plate: The price may lose some steam over August 9-13, as new orders from end-users are likely to be insufficient while output has been steady.

Sections: The price is expected to hover in the week ending August 13, as most end-users and traders have taken a cautious stance on buying in the off season. As of August 8, the price of the Q235 150mm square billet in Tangshan, North China's Hebei province, had slipped by Yuan 140/tonne ($21.7/t) on week to Yuan 5,080/t EXW including the 13% VAT.

Written by Villanelle Xia, xiayi@mysteel.com

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