Posted on 22 Aug 2024
Shagang Group (Shagang), China's largest privately-owned steelmaker headquartered in Zhangjiagang in East China's Jiangsu province, is cutting another Yuan 100/tonne ($14/t) off its list prices of rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil for sales over August 21-31, the company announced on Wednesday.
This marks Shagang's fourth consecutive price cut for its major long steel products since late July, according to Mysteel Global.
With the new price reduction, Shagang is selling its HRB400 16-20mm rebar at Yuan 3,450/t, HPB300 6-10mm high-speed wire rod at Yuan 3,370/t, and HRB400 8-10mm bar-in-coil at Yuan 3,460/t, all in terms of EXW and including the 13% VAT.
The steel giant's move largely reflects the weakness in spot long steel market and a cautious outlook for steel demand from end-users, sources said. For example, the spot price of HRB400E 20mm rebar in Shanghai, a major market for Shagang's long products, had touched a low of Yuan 3,110/t including the 13% VAT on August 15, before its latest recovery to Yuan 3,200/t on August 21, according to Mysteel's assessment.
Meanwhile, Mysteel's survey of spot sales of rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 Chinese steel trading houses it tracks found that their daily trading volume during mid-August averaged just 103,308 tonnes/day, lower by 3.9% or 4,194 t/d from the previous ten days, suggesting the still-weak steel demand amid high temperatures across many parts of the country.
However, such bearish sentiment has eased moderately with rebounding rebar futures in the past couple days, according to a Shanghai-based industry watcher. For example, the most-traded October rebar contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange gained for a second trading day on August 20, strengthening by Yuan 60/t from the prior day's settlement price to close the daytime trading session at Yuan 3,172/t.
"The destocking pace of old standard rebar stockpiles at commercial warehouses across China has quickened lately, indicating a modest recovery in demand from building contractors," the source said, adding that pressure from old-spec rebar stockpiles has eased.
Source:Mysteel Global
