Posted on 28 Oct 2025
Billet prices in Tangshan in North China's Hebei province recovered over October 19-26, with Mysteel assessing the price of Q235 150mm square billet in the city higher by Yuan 30/tonne ($4/t) on week at Yuan 2,950/t EXW including the 13% VAT on October 26.
Rising billet prices also helped the local steelmakers reduce a little of the losses they have been suffering on billet sales. As of October 24, the 22 mills in Tangshan city under Mysteel's tracking were losing Yuan 27/t on average when selling their semis, slightly small than last week's average loss of Yuan 86/t.
In parallel, the per-tonne cost these mills incurred when producing these billets remained largely steady over October 18-24, nudging down by a minimal Yuan 3/t on week to Yuan 3,003/t including the VAT after the broad on-week gain of Yuan 73/t over October 11-17.
Despite the negative margins, daily billet output among the 22 local steelmakers Mysteel regularly follows held largely stable over October 17-23, edging lower by just 1,000 tonnes/day on week to average 37,000 t/d.
As for billet demand, daily billet consumption among the 34 local re-rollers under Mysteel's coverage jumped on week as some had resumed operations last week. The figure skyrocketed by 42.2% or 10,500 t/d on week to reach 35,400 t/d over October 16-22.
The billet inventories held by those local re-rollers also mounted significantly on week, as rising billet prices prompted some to procure low-priced cargoes to meet their production needs for the full resumption of production on October 20, Mysteel's weekly report noted. Production curbs imposed on heavy industry firms including re-rollers by the Tangshan city government from September 29 to help reduce air pollution were to be lifted on October 20, as reported.
Specifically, billet stocks held by the 34 local re-rollers Mysteel checks swelled during October 16-22 to 540,100 tonnes, surging by 21.6% or by 96,000 tonnes on week.
Meanwhile, the total billet stocks at the four commercial warehouses and two ports in Tangshan that Mysteel tracks ended a two-week rise last week, declining by a small 9,300 tonnes on week to reach 1.34 million tonnes over October 17-23.
Source:Mysteel Global
