Posted on 02 Jul 2025
Shagang Group (Shagang), China's largest privately-owned steelmaker headquartered in East China's Jiangsu province, has decided to maintain the list prices of its major long steel products rebar, wire rod, and bar-in-coil for sales over July 1-10, the company announced on Tuesday.
This marks the third consecutive ten-day pricing cycle in which Shagang has rolled over its list prices, reflecting the steelmaker's cautious, wait-and-see approach amid subdued seasonal demand, Mysteel Global notes.
Consequently, the steel giant's HRB400 16-20mm rebar is still priced at Yuan 3,250/tonne ($454/t) for early July sales, its HPB300 6-10mm high-speed wire rod remains at Yuan 3,320/t, and HRB400 8-10mm bar-in-coil stays at Yuan 3,410/t, all in terms of EXW and including the 13% VAT.
Market insiders noted that the price rollover mirrors the weak consumption of long steel from construction sites, as scorching temperatures and summer rains are disrupting outdoor work.
"Although domestic steel prices have rebounded slightly in recent days due to wavering sentiment, overall demand remains under pressure," said a Shanghai-based industry source. "The July-August period is typically sluggish for construction activity in China due to extreme heat and frequent downpours."
Supporting this view, China's National Meteorological Center issued a high-temperature alert on Tuesday, forecasting widespread and persistent heat across East and Central China over the coming week. Starting July 2, the heatwave is expected to intensify, with some regions seeing temperatures of 37–39°C, and localized peaks exceeding 40°C.
As for spot rebar prices, China's national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, for example, had been rangebound during late June, according to Mysteel's assessment. As of June 30, the price had fallen by Yuan 9/t from that on June 20 to reach Yuan 3,211/t including the 13% VAT.
In late June, spot sales of long steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 Chinese steel trading houses under Mysteel's tracking averaged a low of 99,718 tonnes/day, despite a 1.9% uptick from the prior ten days.
Source:Mysteel Global
