News Room - Steel Industry

Posted on 05 Jun 2025

China's construction steel prices to see modest declines

Prices of construction steel products in China, including those of rebar and wire rod, are expected to decline modestly in June, though at a slower pace than in May, according to Mysteel's latest monthly market report. Production may dip slightly during the month and lead to a temporary improvement in supply-demand fundamentals for long steel products, the report also notes.

In May, domestic prices of construction steel fell sharply due to the persistently weak demand, despite some moderate support from positive macroeconomic news, Mysteel observed. 

As of May 30, China's national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, a bellwether of the steel market sentiment across the country, was assessed by Mysteel at Yuan 3,230/tonne ($449/t) and including the 13% VAT, slumping by Yuan 121/t from a month earlier. 

Production also declined last month, particularly among electric-arc-furnace mills, many of which initiated maintenance stoppages after seeing their profit margins squeezed by falling prices. The report predicts a further, albeit limited, drop in output this month. 

By the end of May, weekly rebar output among the 137 steelmakers tracked by Mysteel totaled 2.26 million tonnes, down by 78,700 tonnes from the previous month and by 139,600 tonnes on year. 

Total inventories of construction steel continued to decrease in May, although trends diverged between steel mills and traders. As of late May, rebar inventories at the 137 sampled mills had risen by 133,000 tonnes on month to reach 1.86 million tonnes. In contrast, stocks held by traders across the 35 monitored cities had dropped significantly, falling by 762,500 tonnes to 3.95 million tonnes. 

Demand for long steel items can hardly be expected to recover this month, with the high temperatures and frequent rains of summer impacting many regions, the report notes. Mysteel's data also showed that during May, average daily trading volumes for long steel products comprising rebar, wire rod, and bar-in-coil across the 237 trading houses surveyed nationwide had fallen by 11.5% on month to average 102,422 tonnes/day.

Source:Mysteel Global