Posted on 16 May 2023
Billet prices in Tangshan in North China's Hebei province continued to decline over May 8-14, as demand from local re-rollers remained sluggish during the survey period, Mysteel Global noted.
Mysteel's assessment of the Q235 billet price in Tangshan was at Yuan 3,440/tonne ($493.4/t) EXW and including the 13% VAT on May 14, down by Yuan 40/t from May 8.
Local re-rollers showed little interest in buying large quantities of the semis, as many of them trimmed their production due to the negative profit margins they currently suffered, a Shanghai-based analyst shared.
Over May 4-10, the daily billet consumption among the 55 re-rollers in Tangshan under Mysteel's tracking averaged 41,600 tonnes/day, dropping by 7,000 t/d or 14.4%, while the total billet stocks held by these 55 re-rollers had increased by 33,000 tonnes or 10.2% as of May 10.
The daily billet output among the 30 steelmakers in Tangshan under Mysteel's survey went down by 3,600 tonnes/day or 6.8% on week to 49,700 t/d over May 5-11, while during the same period, the average capacity utilization rate of the 126 blast furnaces at local mills under Mysteel's monitoring remained unchanged on week at 78.8%.
The total inventories across the four commercial warehouses and two ports under Mysteel's monitoring also rose by 71,100 tonnes or 8% on week to 963,300 tonnes as of May 11. The mount in retailers' billet stocks was mainly because of the sustaining mismatch between supply and demand.
On May 12, the average loss borne by the 10 integrated mills in Tangshan under Mysteel's coverage was assessed at Yuan 94/t. Meanwhile, the average cost they incurred on producing those semis had dropped by 110/t on week to 3,494/t over May 4-10.
Source:Mysteel Global
