Posted on 31 Mar 2026
Billet prices in Tangshan in North China's Hebei province pulled back during the week of March 23-29 after gaining for four consecutive weeks, with Mysteel assessing the price of Q235 150mm square billet in the city at Yuan 2,970/tonne ($430/t) EXW including the 13% VAT on March 29, down by Yuan 10/t on week.
Billet supply in the local market remained stable during the sample week as most Tangshan steelmakers stuck to their production plans. Consequently, the volume of billet sold or exported by the 21 steelmakers in Tangshan and the surrounding area regularly monitored by Mysteel stayed unchanged on week over March 20-26 at an average of 37,200 tonnes/day.
On the other hand, most local re-rollers ramped up production during the week, as evidenced by a higher rolling capacity utilization rate. As such, billet demand experienced a huge jump during the week, with daily consumption of the semis among the 34 local re-rollers under Mysteel's tracking averaging 44,700 t/d over March 19-25, surging by nearly 30% or 10,200 t/d on week.
More active rolling activity drew down stock levels held by both traders and re-rollers throughout the week, Mysteel Global noted, causing retail billet inventories to finally trend downwards after these had been mounting for six straight weeks.
The tonnage piled in the three commercial warehouses and at the two ports in Tangshan that Mysteel tracks came in at 2.5 million tonnes as of March 26, declining by 5.7% or 151,300 tonnes on week.
Meanwhile, billet inventories held by the 34 local re-rollers under Mysteel's tracking also dropped by 3% or 22,500 tonnes on week to sit at 727,500 tonnes as of March 25.
Mysteel expects Tangshan billet prices to edge up this week amid a brighter market mood, buoying by firm cost support and relatively firm billet demand. Local re-rollers are likely to maintain their present production pace as they're enjoying acceptable profit margins from selling billet-rolled finished steel products, market watchers note.
On the other hand, higher raw material prices would add to the production costs of the semis, which is likely to prompt steelmakers to firm their billet prices further.
Source:Mysteel
