Near-term outlook on China's steel products

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

Rebar & wire rod: Prices of two long steel products are likely to fluctuate at low levels over 11-15 March, with both downstream demand and mills' output rising further, and inventories staying on the uptrend. Generally, many traders will be inclined to sell off their stocks at hand amid the prevailing cautious sentiment.

Hot-rolled coil: This price is estimated to be pressured by higher HRC stocks in the week ending 15 March as demand for hot coils from end-users may remain slack on the one hand and production may hover high on the other.

By 6 March, HRC stocks at commercial warehouses in the 33 Chinese cities Mysteel follows continued the steady rise since mid-January, mounting by another 92,700 tonnes on week to 3.49 million tonnes (mnt) and refreshing the highest since April 2020.

Cold-rolled coil: This price may soften in the week through 15 March, largely due to the still tepid trading activities in the spot market. Some traders say there is less procurement of cold-rolled coils from downstream users due to their own poor orders.

Medium plate: This price is forecast to be narrowly range-bound over 11-15 March. A market source based in Guangzhou in South China's Guangdong province pointed out that demand has only recovered at a slow pace and the overall market mood stays subdued, which may result in volatile spot plate prices locally.

Sections: Sections' prices may have some room to decline further over 11-15 March. Work on downstream building projects has not fully recovered, while some mills have decided to scale back production to ease pressure on the supply side, indicating a fall in section steel output this week.

Note: This article has been written in accordance with an article exchange agreement between MySteel Global and BigMint.