Posted on 27 Feb 2026
Billet prices in Tangshan in North China's Hebei province remained largely stable during the Chinese New Year (CNY) holiday from February 15-23, with Mysteel assessing the the price of Q235 150mm square billet in the city on February 22 at Yuan 2,900/tonne ($424/t) EXW including the 13% VAT.
On the supply side, some steelmakers in Tangshan slightly increased production during the holiday. As a result, the average volume of billet sold or exported by the 21 steelmakers in Tangshan and the surrounding area under Mysteel's tracking edged up by 2.2%, or 1,000 tonnes/day, from the level recorded over February 6-12 to 45,500 t/d during February 13-23.
On the other hand, downstream demand for billets fell to a very low level, as only a handful of re-rollers in Tangshan continued operating during the holiday. Consequently, daily billet consumption among the 34 local re-rollers under Mysteel's monitoring almost halved to average 11,600 t/d over February 12-18. Meanwhile, total billet stocks held by these re-rollers also fell by around 18%, or 115,000 tonnes, to 525,000 tonnes as of February 23.
The quiet market during the holiday inevitably resulted in a sharp increase in retail billet inventories. Stocks held in the three commercial warehouses and two ports in Tangshan under Mysteel's tracking jumped by 16%, or 299,600 tonnes, over the break to reach 2.17 million tonnes as of February 23, marking a record high.
Looking ahead, Tangshan billet prices are expected to follow an inverted V-shaped trend, Mysteel forecasts. Prices are likely to strengthen in the short term, before high inventory levels weigh on market sentiment and put pressure on prices.
Source:Mysteel Global
