Price trend

Last week, domestic mild steel plate prices were weak, with trading volume sluggish. A nationwide, precipitous drop in temperature, with rain, snow, and low temperatures affecting parts of northern China, impacted outdoor construction. Construction steel production remained low, while terminal demand continued to recover slowly. Rebar inventories continued to decline slightly. According to the SunSirs Commodity Market Analysis System, the price of standard mild steel plate (material: Q235B; size: 20) was 3,272 RMB/ton on October 24, down 0.3% from Monday.

Influencing factors

Billet Market: Domestic billet prices rose last week before consolidating. As of October 24th, the tax-inclusive price of standard square billet in Tangshan was 2,930 RMB/ton, up 10 RMB/ton from Monday. The billet market remained generally stable, with downstream finished product prices generally remaining stable.

On the demand side: market sentiment was cautious, downstream purchases were mainly on demand, macroeconomic policies guided market sentiment, traders replenished inventory in small quantities, market transactions had increased compared with the previous week, and overall transactions were average.

Inventory: While slightly down week-over-week, inventory levels remained elevated year-over-year, indicating continued inventory pressure. As of October 23rd, national medium steel plate inventories stood at 2.5532 million tons, a decrease of 24,100 tons week-over-week, an increase of 249,400 tons month-over-month, and a year-over-year increase of 231,000 tons. North China saw the largest decline by region.

Domestic mild plate steel mill operating rates fluctuated slightly during the week, with production recovering slightly after the resumption of maintenance at mild plate mills. According to incomplete statistics, as of October 23rd, the weekly operating rate was 91.67%, a 3.34% increase from the previous week. Actual weekly output at steel mills was 1.614 million tons, a decrease of 4,700 tons from the previous week. Capacity utilization at steel mills was 84.85%, a decrease of 0.24% from the previous week. Inventories at steel mills were 847,000 tons, a decrease of 2,000 tons from the previous week.

Market outlook

On the whole, downstream demand was lukewarm and market sentiment was volatile. It is expected that the domestic mild steel plate market may continue to fluctuate and fall slightly next week.

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