On the morning of September 20, Anshan Iron & Steel Co., Ltd. (8.27, 0.01, and 0.12%) issued a product price policy for October of 19th, and the main products were raised by 50-380 yuan/ton. At this point, the price policies of Baosteel, Wuhan Iron and Steel and Anshan Iron and Steel Corporation. All introduced, with a slight increase.
The price of Wuhan Iron and Steel Group Co., Ltd. for the 15th is 100-400 yuan/tonne. In the main plate price, both Wuhan Iron and Steel and Anshan Iron and Steel have raised their hot-rolled and cold-rolled products by 100 yuan, while Baosteel's rose slightly. As the news that the steel mills were restricted from power production, production cuts, and production stoppages in the early stages of the market quickly rose sharply and led the steel mills to directly increase the ex-factory price of the products, the downstream and late-stage reactions of the market were not satisfactory, causing the large steel mills to be more cautious in their price positioning.
National Bureau of Statistics data show that in August, the country's crude steel production 51.74 million tons, a decrease of 0.19%; pig iron production 48.84 million tons, an increase of 2.65%; steel production (including duplicates) 69.68 million tons, an increase of 2.97%. In August, the average daily output of crude steel was 1.666 million tons, which fell for the fourth consecutive month. Under the circumstances that steel demand in the domestic market continues to increase, the contradiction between steel supply and demand has eased, and the price of steel has been pushed down.
According to a report released by the China Steel Association on September 19, at the end of August, the social steel inventory of the five major steel products in the 26 major steel products markets in the country totaled 14.9 million tons, a decrease of 40,000 tons from the previous quarter, a decrease of 0.3%. Among them: long products stocks kept declining trend, steel and wire rod stocks fell by 4.0% and 8.4% respectively; plate and coil stocks continued to rise, with increases of 7.0% and 4.5%, respectively, and cold-rolled sheet stocks chained 0.8% increase.
However, due to the cancellation of export tax rebate policy, steel exports fell for the third consecutive month. According to customs statistics, in August China exported 2.8 million tons of steel, a decrease of 1.75 million tons from the previous month, a decrease of 38.46%. In the later period, China's steel exports will further decline.
After experiencing a drop in prices from May to July, the prices of raw materials for steel production rose again in August. Among them: the spot price of imported iron ore (63.5% of India's fines) was 1,160 yuan per ton, which was an increase of 40 per ton. Yuan, which rose by 3.57%; domestic iron concentrates, metallurgical coke, scrap, and billet prices also rose by 9.22%, 3.03%, 3.95%, and 3.52%, respectively; and according to customs statistics, the average cif price of imported iron ore in August. It was 139.65 U.S. dollars per ton. Although it was lower than the previous month, it was still at a relatively high level.
China Iron and Steel Association reported that compared with the same period last year, except for metallurgical coke prices slightly lower than the same period last year, iron ore, scrap, billets, coking coal and other prices are higher than the same period last year, especially the spot price of imported iron ore The year-on-year increase of 54.67% and domestic iron concentrate price increased by 40.63% year-on-year. Due to the substantial increase in the price of raw materials, the production costs of steel companies have risen continuously, the profitability of enterprises has dropped sharply, and the driving force of cost to promote the rebound of steel prices has become greater.
The China Steel Association pointed out that the recent rebound in market steel prices is the result of sustained growth in demand and improved supply and demand. Iron and steel enterprises should pay attention to the adjustment of variety structure and the control of effective production capacity, reasonably adjust the ex-factory price, and maintain a relatively stable steel market.