Posted on 21 Oct 2025
Billet prices in Tangshan in North China's Hebei province declined over October 13-19, with Mysteel assessing the price of Q235 150mm square billet in the city lower by Yuan 30/tonne ($4/t) on week at Yuan 2,920/t EXW including the 13% VAT on October 19.
Billet production remained largely steady even though the margin losses the local steelmakers suffered on their billet sales increased significantly on week. As of October 17, the mills in Tangshan city under Mysteel's tracking were losing Yuan 86/t on average from selling their billets, compared with only Yuan 9/t during the previous week.
Despite the negative margins, billet output among the 22 local steelmakers Mysteel regularly follows held largely stable over October 10-16, nudging down by 2,000 tonnes on week to 38,000 tonnes.
As for demand, daily billet consumption among the 34 local re-rollers under Mysteel's coverage also showed few changes, edging up by a minimal 900 tonnes/day on week over October 9-15 to reach 24,900 t/d on average.
The steady but low output can be attributed to the on-going production restrictions imposed on most local re-rollers by the Tangshan government during September 29-October 20 to improve air quality, as reported.
Those re-rollers which still operated last week were inclined to consume their existing billets instead of procuring more, Mysteel's weekly report noted.
Consequently, the inventories of billets held by traders and mills showed mixed trends on week. Those held by the 34 local re-rollers Mysteel checks declined for a fifth consecutive week over October 9-15 to 444,100 tonnes, down by 5.5% or 25,400 tonnes on week.
Meanwhile, the total billet stocks at the four commercial warehouses and two ports in Tangshan that Mysteel tracks mounted further, albeit by a small 7,000 tonnes on week to reach 1.35 million tonnes over October 10-16.
Source:Mysteel Global
