Posted on 14 Jan 2025
Billet prices in Tangshan in North China's Hebei province declined over January 6-12, with output rising while demand from steel re-rollers fell, according to Mysteel's weekly survey. Impacting the billet market too were the declines recorded in rebar futures prices last week, survey respondents said.
As of January 12, the Tangshan Q235 150mm square billet price had softened by Yuan 50/tonne ($6.8/t) on week to Yuan 2,960/t EXW and including the 13% VAT, Mysteel's assessment showed.
The price fall in the semis expanded the losses borne by local billet steelmakers, with the average loss on billet sales endured by the ten integrated mills in Tangshan under Mysteel's tracking widening by Yuan 82/t on week to Yuan 181/t as of January 10.
Meanwhile, the average per tonne cost these mills had incurred when producing those billets edged up Yuan 2/t on week to Yuan 3,111/t and including the 13% VAT, according to the survey.
Daily billet output among the 23 steel mills in Tangshan that Mysteel follows averaged 42,900 tonnes/day over January 3-9, recovering by 4,400 t/d on week, as mills increased their billet production after orders for finished steel products dropped.
As for demand, daily billet consumption among the 44 re-rollers in Tangshan under Mysteel's coverage slipped for the third straight week during January 2-8, slumping by some 15,600 t/d on week to average a low 26,800 t/d. Slack finished steel sales and deepening losses had led the re-rollers to slow their pace of purchasing semis, survey respondents observed.
Most re-rollers in Tangshan had suspended operations for maintenance last week, and the few re-rollers operating normally had only purchased enough semis to fulfill their needs. Consequently, billet inventories held by these re-rollers thinned slightly by 3,900 tonnes on week to 476,600 tonnes as of January 8.
On the other hand, total billet stocks across the four commercial warehouses and two ports in Tangshan that Mysteel checks mounted for the second week, rising by 82,700 tonnes on week to 920,500 tonnes by January 9.
Source:Mysteel Global
