Posted on 11 Mar 2025
Mysteel's assessment of the Q235 150mm square billet price in North China's Tangshan, the country's largest steel production hub, showed an on-week decline of Yuan 50/tonne ($6.9/t) at Yuan 3,030/t EXW and including the 13% VAT as of March 9, according to the weekly survey. Most local re-rollers had halted production in response to directives from the local government battling to ease heavy air pollution over the city, respondents explained, causing demand from re-rollers to weaken during the period.
Re-rollers in Tangshan had suspended production starting March 4, and their demand for the semis eased accordingly, the survey found. As such, billet consumption among the 43 re-rollers in Tangshan under Mysteel's tracking slipped by 16,000 tonnes/day on week to average 36,700 t/d over February 27-March 5.
By March 5, billet inventories held by the 43 re-rollers had mounted by 87,500 tonnes on week to 600,500 tonnes. Only a few re-rollers purchased the semis to fulfill immediate needs, while the operations of most had been suspended, according to the survey.
On the other hand, billet output among the 23 steelmakers in Tangshan Mysteel monitors rose by 3,500 t/d on week to average 39,300 t/d over February 28-March 6.
However, these steelmakers idled their blast furnaces for maintenance work during March 7-11, also as part of efforts to lessen local air pollution. This will lower billet production data for the next survey week, a respondent said.
The average profit on billet sales earned by the ten integrated mills in Tangshan that Mysteel follows stood at Yuan 25/t on March 7, falling by Yuan 23/t on week, while the per-tonne cost these mills incurred when producing those semis eased by Yuan 27/t on week to average 3,015/t including the 13% VAT.
Total billet inventories across the four commercial warehouses and two ports in Tangshan that Mysteel checks thinned further during the survey period though the pace slowed down, as the dull demand led re-rollers to curtail their buying of the semis. The total volume shrank by 13,200 tonnes on week to 1.17 million tonnes as of March 6, as against the 44,300 tonnes-fall in the prior week.
Source:Mysteel Global
