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: These construction steel products' prices are likely to firm over September 18-22, with steel market sentiment recovering after actual demand from end-users has shown signs of improvement. Last week, the daily trading volume of construction steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 trading houses under Mysteel's tracking nationwide averaged 152,323 tonnes/day, reversing up by 11.5% on week.

Hot-rolled coil: This price may be widely rangebound in the week through September 22, as better sentiment may lend some support to the price while weak fundamentals will still exist.

Cold-rolled coil: This price is expected to be narrowly volatile in the week ending September 22, with output remaining high and demand recovering steadily.

Cold-rolled coil production at the 29 steelmakers across the country Mysteel follows has increased for the third consecutive week, up another 2,400 tonnes on week to 833,500 tonnes over September 7-13.

Medium plate: This price may slightly fluctuate over September 18-22, as end-users may show less inclination to purchase large quantities of the flat steel and many traders also hold a cautious stance.

Stocks of medium plates at commercial warehouses in 31 cities Mysteel tracks have mounted for the fourth week, up 12,200 tonnes on week to 1.27 million tonnes as of September 14.

Sections: The sections' prices may strengthen over September 18-22, mainly as most re-rollers in Tangshan in North China's Hebei province have been ordered to suspend their operations since September 15 to lessen air pollution in the city.

Written by Rong Zhang, zhangronga@mysteel.com

Edited by Alyssa Ren, rentingting@mysteel.com

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