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 gain over March 7-11, mainly supported by low supply from Chinese steelmakers. As of March 2, rebar output among China's 137 steel mills under Mysteel's survey stayed at a low level of 2.9 million tonnes despite an on-week growth of 167,300 tonnes.

Hot-rolled coil: This price may climb in the week ending March 11, mainly underpinned by high production costs and improving demand from end-users. As of March 3, HRC stocks at 194 warehouses in China's 55 cities under Mysteel's tracking declined for the second week by another 0.9% to 3.96 million tonnes.

Cold-rolled coil: The price may grow this week, as supply from Chinese steelmakers is likely to decline with scheduled maintenance stoppages. By March 3, CRC stocks at the 182 commercial warehouses in the 29 Chinese cities under Mysteel's tracking reversed from six weeks of rises, down by 0.3% on week to 2.2 million tonnes.

Medium plate: The price is likely to increase modestly over March 7-11, as most traders have tendency of firming their offering prices amid the improving market sentiment.

Section: This price is expected to strengthen in the week ending March 11, as demand from end-users has been improving, and some steelmakers are likely to lift their ex-works prices on high production costs.

As of March 6, the Q235 150mm square billet price in Tangshan, North China's Hebei province, has gained Yuan 190/tonne ($30/t) on week to Yuan 4,740/t EXW including the 13% VAT, according to Mysteel's assessment.

Written by Villanelle Xia, xiayi@mysteel.com

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