Posted on 16 Sep 2025
Billet prices in Tangshan city in North China's Hebei Province kept largely steady over the week of September 8-14, with both production and demand rising while inventories held by re-rollers and traders at major warehouses showing mixed trends.
Mysteel assessed the Tangshan Q235 150mm square billet price at Yuan 3,010/tonne ($423/t) EXW including the 13% VAT on September 14, edging up by a negligible Yuan 30/t on week, according to Mysteel's latest weekly survey.
The profits that steelmakers in Tangshan could earn from their billet sales contracted further during the same week. On September 12, the ten sampled integrated mills under Mysteel's tracking were earning only Yuan 19/t when selling their billets, narrowing by another Yuan 10/t on week.
Meanwhile, the per-tonne cost for the sampled mills to produce those semis rose further by Yuan 20/t to average Yuan 2,991/t including the VAT, also according to Mysteel's assessment.
By last week, most re-rollers and steel mills in Tangshan had resumed operations after the suspensions they had observed to ensure clear skies for Beijing's September 3 military parade were relaxed. This led both billet output and demand to rise, Mysteel Global noted.
Specifically, the daily billet output of the 22 local steelmakers in Tangshan Mysteel regularly follows reached 35,000 tonnes/day over September 5-11, up by 3,000 t/d on week.
On the other hand, not surprisingly the lifting of the production curbs had led daily billet consumption among the 34 local re-rollers to skyrocket, jumping by 528% on week over September 4-10 to average 49,600 t/d – nearly a 4.5-month high.
The operation resumption of re-rollers also speeded up billet consumption, driving retail stocks down during the survey week. Billet inventories held at the four warehouses and two ports in Tangshan city that Mysteel monitors dropped by 57,500 tonnes over September 5-11 to 1.36 million tonnes, ending their two-week accumulation.
Meanwhile, the billet stocks held by the 34 local re-rollers under Mysteel's tracking edged up further by 2.38% on week over September 4-10 to reach 611,000 tonnes.
Source:Mysteel Global
