Posted on 22 Sep 2026
Below is the brief near-term outlook for five key steel products Mysteel shares on a weekly basis, drawing upon the results of related surveys and communication with Chinese market participants.
Rebar & wire rod: China's prices of the two major long steel items are expected to remain weak over September 21-24 amid fading cost support, stable supply and pre-holiday restocking.
Despite a small recovery last week, the overall supply of steel longs from mills is projected to remain at current lows in the coming week. On the demand side, end-users are likely to scale up purchases of construction steel items as summer heat subsides and they are also expected to replenish some stocks ahead of the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays in China.
However, expectations for faster restarts of domestic coal mines could ease tight coking coal and coke supplies and pose downside pressure on their prices in the near term. This points to softening support from the cost side and may trigger further negative feedback across the steel market.
Hot-rolled coil: Chinese HRC prices are projected to be rangebound this week. HRC stocks declined last week but were mainly driven by supply shrinkage rather than seasonal demand pickup. End-users would continue to stay cautious in the near term, while some of them may make HRC purchases ahead of the three-day Mid-Autumn Holiday.
As of September 17, HRC inventories at traders in the 55 Chinese cities Mysteel regularly checks totaled 4.78 million tonnes, dropping by 1.6% or by 75,600 tonnes on week.
Cold-rolled coil: CRC prices are likely to extend losses over the week ending September 24. Weakening ferrous futures have resulted in fewer new orders from downstream customers, leading to inventory accumulation last week. As for this week, pervasive caution in the CRC market may persist as most traders will focus on liquidating in-hand stocks amid rising inventory pressure.
CRC stocks held by traders in 29 Chinese cities under Mysteel's tracking edged up by 1.5% or 33,100 tonnes on week to 2.31 million tonnes as of September 17, marking the only product among the five major carbon steel items – namely rebar, wire rod, HRC, CRC and medium plate – to log on-week gain last week.
Medium plate: Medium plate prices are expected to fluctuate slightly over September 21-24. On one hand, recovering market fundamentals - as reflected by relatively low inventory levels - should provide some support to medium plate prices. On the other hand, waning cost-side support and weaker-than-expected downstream consumption may continue to pose downside risks in the near term.
Sections: Steel section prices are likely to witness marginal declines over September 21-24. Traders are forecast to stay wary and prioritize clearing stocks this week pressured by mounting retail stocks and subdued downstream demand, but firm billet prices would limit the downside of domestic sections prices from the cost side.
Source:Mysteel Global
