Posted on 24 Jan 2022
Shagang Group, China's largest privately-owned steel producer based in East China's Jiangsu province, announced on January 21 that it is rolling over its ex-works prices of long steel products for sales over January 21-February 10 from those for January 11-20.
China's long steel producers are these days tending to hold their prices stable - and Shagang is no exception - because domestic steel sales have been gradually grinding to a halt as steel buyers look forward to their coming Chinese New Year holidays over January 31-February 6.
With the latest pricing policy, Shagang's prices of HRB400 16-25mm rebar, HPB300 6-10mm wire rod and HRB400 8-10mm bar-in-coil remain unchanged at Yuan 4,900/tonne ($771.7/t), Yuan 5,110/t and Yuan 5,200/t respectively over January 21-February 10. In fact, the Jiangsu mill hasn't made any price adjustments since January 1. All prices are in terms of EXW and including the 13% VAT, Mysteel Global notes
"End-user demand has been shrinking at an accelerated pace this week, with work on construction projects being suspended for the holidays, and steel traders have also been gradually leaving the market for holiday celebrations from this week too," an industry source based in South China's Guangdong province observed.
As of January 20, the trading volume of construction steel comprising of rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil had already declined to just 47,728 tonnes/day, the lowest since February 5 2021, according to Mysteel's survey across 237 Chinese steel traders nationwide.
Both before and during the CNY holiday, the domestic steel market is likely to move stably, but domestic industry sources' views are mixed regarding market conditions after holiday - especially in March.
On the one hand, steel supply is likely to remain low with the ongoing restrictions on steel production, mainly in North China, until the present curbs for the 'winter heating season' are lifted around March 15, sources suggest. There could also be elevated restrictions on mills before and during the convening of the Winter Olympic Games in and around Beijing over February 4-10 and the top political meetings Two Sessions in March.
On the other hand, however, market insiders also worry about lower-than-usual demand in Spring, as the downtrend in China's property market - as evidenced by declining investment and falling starts on new projects - continues and is yet to show any signs of bottoming.
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Shagang's premiums for other long products over Jan 21-Feb 10 |
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Specification |
Premium |
|
HRB400 10mm dia rebar |
Yuan 160/t |
|
HRB400 12mm dia rebar |
Yuan 100/t |
|
HRB400 14mm dia rebar |
Yuan 30/t |
|
HRB400 28-32mm dia rebar |
Yuan 60/t |
|
HRB400 36mm/40mm dia rebar |
Yuan 250/t |
|
HRB500 14-25mm |
Yuan 300/t on top of HRB400 base prices |
|
HRB400 6mm dia bar-in-coil |
Yuan 300/t |
|
Anti-seismic rebar |
Yuan 30/t |
Source:Mysteel Global
