Near-term outlook on China's key steel products

Below is the brief near-term outlook of five major carbon 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 strengthen over September 6-10, as spot trading volume has been growing gradually, and rebar stocks in the commercial warehouses of China's 132 cities continued to decline as of September 2, down for the fifth week by another 1% on week to 11.3 million tonnes in total.

Hot-rolled coil: This price may grow in the week ending September 10, partly due to the declining stocks at Chinese traders, as by September 2, HRC stocks in the commercial warehouses of China's 55 cities declined for the second week by another 1.7% on week to 4.1 million tonnes.

Cold-rolled coil: The price is likely to increase modestly in the week to September 10, as market sentiment appears optimistic with September being a traditional peak season for China's domestic steel consumption.

Medium plate: The price may move up over September 6-10, mainly underpinned by limited output, as mills in Handan, North China's Hebei province, have been imposed on intensified production curbs.

Sections: The price is expected to inch up in the week ending September 10, as demand from machinery and infrastructure projects has been recovering though slowly. Besides, raw material costs have been on the rise with the price of the Q235 150mm square billet in Tangshan of North China's Hebei up for the second week by another Yuan 130/tonne ($20/t) to Yuan 5,080/t EXW including the 13% VAT as of September 5.

Written by Villanelle Xia, xiayi@mysteel.com