Posted on 25 Aug 2021
Shagang Group, China’s largest privately-owned steel producer based in East China’s Jiangsu province, cut its rebar prices for the second time this month and by another Yuan 150/tonne ($23.1/t) for sales over August 21-31, according to a company announcement on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the leading long-steel producer also reduced prices of wire rod and bar-in-coil by Yuan 150/t from its prior sales period over August 11-20 after rolling these prices over during the previous sales term, according to the policy statement.
With the latest price adjustments, Shagang’s HRB 16-25mm rebar is officially priced at Yuan 5,350/t and its HPB300 6-10mm wire rod and HRB400 8-10mm bar-in-coil at Yuan 5,710/t and Yuan 5,700/t respectively, all in terms of EXW and including the VAT.
Shagang’s cuts to its prices came as little surprise to many, as transaction prices in the spot steel market have been on a downward track too, though demand showed signs of recovery last Friday.
For example, Mysteel’s assessment for HRB400E 20mm dia rebars in Shanghai, a representative transaction price for East China’s steel market, decreased by Yuan 230/t over August 11-19, before picking up Yuan 50/t on day last Friday on improving sales.
On August 20, Mysteel’s survey across 237 Chinese steel traders nationwide showed that the daily trading of construction steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil hit a 1.5-month high of 239,938 tonnes/day on average, after languishing below 200,000 t/d over August 11-19.
Some steel traders in East China claimed they can’t see any major improvement in trading and don’t expect sales to become robust until September.
“The latest resurgence of the coronavirus pandemic in many parts of China is gradually being brought under control and daily trading is normal,” a Jiangsu-based steel trader said.
“But buyers are still showing resistance, believing that steel prices are staying too high compared with previous years and with the recent retreats in raw material prices,” she added.
So far this month, Shagang has cut its steel scrap procurement price on no fewer than three occasions by a total of Yuan 150/t, as reported. Currently, the mill is paying Yuan 3,700 - 3,760/t for HMS grade scrap including the delivery and the 13% VAT.
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Shagang’s premiums for other long products over August 21-31 |
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Specification |
Premium |
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HRB400 10mm dia rebar |
Yuan 160/t |
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HRB400 12mm dia rebar |
Yuan 100/t |
|
HRB400 14mm dia rebar |
Yuan 30/t |
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HRB400 28-32mm dia rebar |
Yuan 60/t |
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HRB400 36mm/40mm dia rebar |
Yuan 250/t |
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HRB500 14-25mm |
Yuan 300/t on top of HRB400 base prices |
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HRB400 6mm dia bar-in-coil |
Yuan 300/t |
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Anti-seismic rebar |
Yuan 30/t |
Source:Mysteel Global
