Posted on 04 Dec 2023
Shagang Group (Shagang), China's leading private steelmaker headquartered in East China's Jiangsu province, is adding another Yuan 50/tonne ($7/t) to its list prices of rebar, wire rod, and bar-in-coil for sales over December 1-10, the company announced on Friday. The mill has now lifted the list prices of its longs for three straight ten-day sales cycles, Mysteel Global notes.
With Shagang's latest price adjustment, its HRB400 16-20mm rebar is now priced at Yuan 4,250/t, while its HPB300 6-10mm high-speed wire rod and HRB400 8-10mm bar-in-coil are now listed at Yuan 4,340/t and Yuan 4,430/t respectively, all in terms of EXW and including the 13% VAT.
Shagang, also the country's largest electric-arc-furnace steelmaker, generally releases its pricing policy for long steel products in a 10-day cycle, saying that this better reflects changes in market conditions.
Its decision to further strengthen its prices reflects the steel giant's concerns about rising steelmaking raw materials costs, which have been persistently high lately, despite the volatility of domestic steel prices, according to market sources.
For example, as of November 30 China's national composite coke price under Mysteel's assessment had soared by Yuan 98/t from that on November 20 to Yuan 2,397.6/t and including the 13% VAT.
In contrast, domestic finished steel prices had been rangebound during late November, with steel demand from end-users weakening further as the weather grew colder across many parts of the country. As of November 30, the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar had declined by a small Yuan 4/t from November 20 to reach Yuan 4,052/t including the 13% VAT, according to Mysteel's assessment.
During late November, spot sales of construction steel including rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 Chinese steel trading houses under Mysteel's tracking averaged 140,537 tonnes/day, sliding by 10.7% or 16,812 t/d from the prior ten days.
"As December progresses, steel demand will shrink further, while the recent fluctuation in raw materials prices may continue to affect spot steel prices," predicted another market watcher.
On the other hand, in its monthly pricing policy for flat steel products for December sales also tabled on Friday, Shagang again rolled over the list prices of its hot-rolled coil (HRC) from last month. Consequently, its prices of Q235 5.5*1500mm and SPHC 4.0*1250mm hot coil stay at Yuan 4,200/t and Yuan 4,210/t respectively this month, both including the 13% VAT.
Source:Mysteel Global
