Posted on 14 Jan 2026
China's construction steel demand is likely to decline further this month as winter continues to impact building projects, according to the findings of Mysteel's latest monthly survey.
The prediction is based on the actual volumes of construction steel products bought by domestic end-users in December and their purchase plans for these products this month.
Mysteel's regular tracking of over 200 domestic construction enterprises showed that their total procurement volume of steel products came in at 5.85 million tonnes in December, slipping by 2.2% from November.
This month, the building contractors plan to purchase 4.98 million tonnes of steel products, sliding by 14.9% compared with their actual purchases in December, the survey results showed.
China's steel demand usually slows during the winter season, as outdoor construction is frequently hampered by the low temperatures in most regions, as reported.
Meanwhile, construction activity also decelerates in the leadup to the Chinese New Year holiday which this year will start from mid-February.
Many domestic building contractors are facing pressure from tight cash flow, which may also suppress domestic steel demand, according to the release.
Transactions involving construction steel in the physical market remained weak overall, with the daily trading volume of rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 trading houses nationwide under Mysteel's tracking averaging 96,947 tonnes/day during January 1-12, down by 922 t/d from the average for December.
However, demand from end-users in southern China is still resilient, and ferrous futures prices remain strong, driving up domestic steel prices for spot sales, Mysteel Global noted.
On January 12, Mysteel assessed the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar at Yuan 3,342/tonne ($479/t) including the 13% VAT, rising by Yuan 18/t from the end of December.
On the same day, the most-traded rebar contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange for May delivery closed the daytime trading session at Yuan 3,165/t, higher by Yuan 52/t from the settlement price on January 5, according to the exchange's data.
Source:Mysteel Global
