Posted on 24 Sep 2026
Billet prices in Tangshan in North China's Hebei province fluctuated within a narrow band during September 14-20, with Mysteel assessing the price of Q235 150mm square billet in the city at Yuan 3,000/tonne ($447/t) EXW and including the 13% VAT on September 20, unchanged on week.
The largely stable billet price reflected the cautious stance among Tangshan steelmakers towards the near-term market as cost-side support was weakening.
Coking coal and coke futures prices slumped last week, mainly reflecting mounting expectations for faster restarts of domestic coking coal mines after many have been suspended for safety checks, as Mysteel Global has reported. Spot prices for coking coal also softened.
Billet demand in Tangshan city witnessed a sharp increase as many local re-rollers resumed operations of their rolling mills in preparation for stronger end-user buying in advance of the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays, Mysteel Global noted.
Specifically, the daily usage of semis among the 34 local re-rollers under Mysteel's tracking averaged 42,400 tonnes/day over September 10-16, surging by 25.4% or 8,600 t/d on week.
But the increase is expected to be short-lived as the re-rollers are still suffering negative margins on their product sales and starts on construction projects are proving delayed so far this autumn.
The lift in production among the re-rollers last week saw many buy billet feeds but the cautious market sentiment meant that most deals were still concluded at relatively low prices. As such, the tonnage held in the re-rollers' warehouses swelled mildly by 4.3% or 29,000 tonnes on week to 704,500 tonnes as of September 16.
As for billet supply, most sampled local steel mills maintained their production pace last week, leading to steady supply to the surrounding market, Mysteel Global learned.
Specifically, the volume of billets sold or exported in Tangshan and surrounding regions by the 21 local steel mills Mysteel monitors averaged 38,300 t/d over September 11-17, down marginally by 200 t/d on week.
The lukewarm sentiment in spot transactions and steady billet supply led to a marginal increase in retail inventories of the semis last week, with the volume held in the three commercial warehouses and two ports in Tangshan that Mysteel monitors totaling 1.52 million tonnes as of September 17, edging up by 2,600 tonnes on week.
Tangshan billet prices are forecast to make small gains this week as the losses the mills are currently enduring on their steel sales generally will likely prompt some to scale down hot metal production and firm their offer prices for the semis in the short run, according to a Mysteel analyst.
Source:Mysteel Global
