Posted on 05 Dec 2023
The price of Q235 150mm square billet in Tangshan in North China's Hebei province was assessed by Mysteel at Yuan 3,630/tonne ($509/t) EXW including the 13% VAT on December 3, unchanged from that on November 26. Local billet demand has improved moderately, survey participants said, as re-rollers gradually resumed operations after the production curbs placed on them were lifted on November 22.
As such, daily billet consumption among the 55 re-rollers in Tangshan under Mysteel's tracking reversed up 15,300 tonnes/day on week to hit a 3.5-month high of 63,800 t/d on average over November 23-29.
Meanwhile, the ramp-up in these re-rollers' production also led billet inventories held by retailers to decline, with total billet stocks at the four commercial warehouses and two ports in Tangshan that Mysteel monitors reversing down by 61,600 tonnes on week to reach 1.22 million tonnes as of November 30.
Survey respondents pointed out that re-rollers were actually cautious about procurement – due to thin profit margins on steel sales and high steel inventories – and generally only purchased some semis to fulfill their immediate demand. During the survey week they mainly digested the billet in their yards.
As a result, billet inventories held by the 55 surveyed re-rollers decreased by 41,100 tonnes on week to 339,400 tonnes over November 23-29.
Although billet prices in Tangshan remained stable last week, the losses suffered by steelmakers on their billet sales widened due to the climb in their production costs, according to the survey.
The average cost incurred by ten sampled mills in Tangshan under Mysteel's coverage rose Yuan 7/t on week to Yuan 3,790/t and including the 13% VAT last week, while the average loss they endured on selling those semis deepened by Yuan 27/t on week to Yuan 160/t on December 1.
On the supply side, the daily output of billets among the 30 steelmakers in Tangshan Mysteel checks averaged 41,500 t/d over November 24-30, lower by 2,500 t/d on week. Billet production remained at a normal level, the survey results showed.
Source:Mysteel Global
