Posted on 17 Dec 2024
Billet prices in Tangshan in North China's Hebei province were rangebound during the week of December 9-15. Ferrous derivatives throughout China during the early part of last week were generally boosted by favorable macroeconomic news, and this led to a rise in spot billet trading, according to Mysteel's weekly survey, but activity cooled as market players appeared cautious about the high-priced semis supplies.
As of December 15, the price of Q235 150mm square billet in Tangshan, a bellwether of domestic steel-market sentiment, had risen by Yuan 40/tonne ($5.5/t) on week to Yuan 3,100/t EXW and including the 13% VAT, Mysteel's assessment showed.
The gain in semis prices last week helped to ease local mills' losses on billet sales, with the ten major mills in Tangshan that Mysteel monitors seeing their average losses narrow by some Yuan 45/t on week to Yuan 40/t as of December 13.
Meanwhile, local billet producers' costs had also fallen, as the per-tonne cost incurred by the ten sampled mills when producing semis averaged Yuan 3,140/t including the 13% VAT last week, down Yuan 15/t on week.
Separately, billet production among the 23 mills in Tangshan under Mysteel's tracking declined for a second week during December 6-12, falling by 1,000 tonnes/day on week to average 51,800 t/d. Local steelmakers switched from producing the semis to rolling rebar and strip steel after their rolling mills had been brought back on stream, sources said to explain the slip.
On the other hand, daily billet consumption among the 44 local re-rollers Mysteel follows rebounded by 11,600 t/d on week to 53,900 t/d on average over December 5-11, as local re-rollers appeared active in purchasing billets, given their improved margins on finished steel sales amid strengthening steel prices, a survey respondent said.
As such, billet stocks held by the surveyed 44 re-rollers mounted by 41,800 tonnes on week to total 516,000 tonnes as of December 11, Mysteel's data found.
In addition, total billet stocks across the four commercial warehouses and two ports in Tangshan that Mysteel canvasses thinned for the second week, falling by 49,700 tonnes on week to 911,600 tonnes by December 12. This tonnage was also lower by a substantial 371,000 tonnes or 28.9% from the same period last year.
Source:Mysteel Global
