Posted on 14 Sep 2026
Baoshan Iron & Steel Co (Baosteel), the listed arm of the world’s top steelmaker China Baowu Steel Group, is raising the list prices for some of its major flat-rolled products including hot-rolled coils (HRC) by Yuan 200/tonne ($30/t) for domestic sales in October, according to the company’s latest pricing announcement issued late on September 10.
The rise is the largest upward adjustment Baosteel has made since its increase of the same amount for April sales, when market expectations for a recovery in end-user demand after the Chinese New Year holiday prompted the steelmaker to raise its major flat steel prices, as reported.
However, this time the stimulus is quite different, with the move largely a response to the elevated input costs from high coking coal and met coke prices, a Shanghai-based ferrous analyst observed.
By September 10, the national composite spot price for coking coal under Mysteel's assessment had spiked Yuan 555.6/t or 32.3% on month to Yuan 2,277.5/t, while China's national price for wet-quenched quasi-first-grade met coke had also jumped Yuan 430/t or 25.3% on month to Yuan 2,126.3/t as of the same day, Mysteel Global noted.
Despite surging raw material costs, the rise in finished steel prices including those of HRC has failed to catch up, climbing only by Yuan 98/t or 3% on month to sit at Yuan 3,359/t on September 10, which was also lower by Yuan 6/t on week.
This price spread has inflicted heavy losses on mills, with only about 8% or 19 of the 247 mills regularly surveyed by Mysteel saying they could make profits on finished steel sales as of Thursday, a sharp fall from the previous week's 30% or 74 mills.
Under the pressure of their margin losses, some mills are curtailing production to reduce their losses, a factor that should also provide some support to steel prices, the analyst said. The makers are also actively expanding exports to ease domestic supply pressure.
Other major domestic flat steel makers such as Angang Steel and Bengang Steel Plates are likely to follow Baosteel's adjustments when they announce their pricing policies for October, expected early next week.
In the short run, restocking demand among manufacturing sectors in the peak autumn months for consumption may still help the flat steel market to maintain a weak supply-demand equilibrium. However, should the recovery in demand fall short of expectations – reflected in a much slower pace of destocking, for example – hot coil prices may still come under pressure, according to the analyst.
On September 10, hot coil inventories in the 194 commercial warehouses Mysteel tracks nationwide hovered high at 4.86 million tonnes, higher by 0.12% or 5,800 tonnes on week and 0.91% on month, Mysteel's latest survey showed.
Source:Mysteel Global
