Posted on 01 Sep 2021
China’s spot steel prices including rebar and hot-rolled coil (HRC) recovered on week in general over August 23-27 after the sharp declines a week earlier despite the reemergence of price declines starting August 26, partly due to the strengthening in the futures prices and the resilience in the raw material prices especially in coke, and domestic spot steel sales picked up moderately on week too, Mysteel Global noted.
Rebar: China’s national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, a key indicator of the country’s spot steel market movement, had rebounded by Yuan 25/tonne ($3.9/t) on week to Yuan 5,270/t and including the 13% VAT on August 27, according to Mysteel’s assessment.
The daily trading volume of construction steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among China’s 237 steel traders also under Mysteel’s tracking recovered by 13,480 tonnes/day or 7.5% on week to an average of 193,590 t/d over August 23-27, though the volume fluctuated last week with lower tonnage by mid-week but higher towards the weekend.
The most-traded rebar January 2022 contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) rebounded by Yuan 198/t from the settlement price on August 20, closing the daytime trading session of August 27 at Yuan 5,222/t, and by last Friday, the futures price against the Shanghai spot rebar price switched to a contango of Yuan 22/t from a backwardation at Yuan 40/t in the previous week.
Billet: The Q235 150mm square billet price in Tangshan, North China’s Hebei province, was assessed by Mysteel at Yuan 4,950/t EXW and including the VAT as of August 27, or having recovered by Yuan 70/t on week, and demand picked up gradually with many local re-rollers back to production.
HRC: As of August 27, China’s national price of Q235 4.75mm HRC under Mysteel’s assessment recovered from three weeks of drops, up Yuan 13/t on week to Yuan 5,687/t and including the 13% VAT, and spot demand improved as HRC stocks at commercial warehouses in China’s 33 cities under Mysteel’s survey fell further by 46,200 tonnes on week to 2.9 million tonnes as of August 26.
The SHFE’s most-traded HRC January 2022 contract recovered Yuan 105/t from the settlement price on August 20, closing at Yuan 5,495/t when the daytime trading session ended on August 27, and its backwardation against the Shanghai spot HRC price narrowed to Yuan 165/t from Yuan 192/t a week earlier.
Source:Mysteel Global
