Posted on 16 Jun 2026
Billet prices in Tangshan in North China's Hebei province witnessed a mild gain during June 8-14, with Mysteel assessing the price of Q235 150mm square billet in the city at Yuan 3,040/tonne ($450/t) EXW including the 13% VAT on June 14, up by Yuan 20/t on week.
The price increase largely tracked a sentiment lift in the domestic steel market after independent coke producers had demanded the mills pay an extra Yuan 50~55/t more for their coke from Monday, as reported.
Facing small losses from billet sales, a few local steelmakers consumed more billets themselves for finished steel production last week, resulting in fewer semis entering the Tangshan market, Mysteel noted in its weekly report.
Specifically, the tonnage of billets sold or exported by the 21 steelmakers in Tangshan and the surrounding area regularly monitored by Mysteel edged down negligibly by 0.6% or 300 tonnes/day on week to average 46,300 t/d over June 5-11.
However, cautions among local re-rollers intensified over the week as demand for finished steel was disrupted by frequent rainfalls, high temperatures and tight project cashflows among steel users. As such, most re-rollers preferred using in-plant billet stocks instead of replenishing the semis, which pushed retail billet inventories upwards again after a one-week fall, Mysteel Global noted.
Specifically, as of June 11 the tonnage of billet held in the three warehouses and two ports in Tangshan under Mysteel's tracking had mounted by 3.7% or 82,800 tonnes on week to 2.31 million tonnes.
On the other hand, billet inventories held by the 34 local re-rollers Mysteel regularly checks had retreated by 1.9% or 12,000 tonnes on week to 629,000 tonnes as of June 10.
Sluggish demand for their rolled items also prompted some re-rollers to halt their rolling mills for maintenance last week, paring billet consumption to some extent. The volume of billets used by the 34 sampled re-rollers declined by 3.5% or 1,600 t/d on week to average 44,300 t/d over June 4-10.
Tangshan billet prices are forecast to decline this week, albeit slightly. Inventory levels for the semi-finished steel item are expected to stay elevated and weigh on billet prices as oversupply is likely to persist in the market. But higher raw material prices for the mills would continue to strengthen the cost-side support, which would partly offset the pressure on the prices.
Source:Mysteel Global
