TEX reported that China's steel market prices of almost all items in the last week (September 24th 2012 to September 28th 2012) rose for 2 weeks in a row. There seems to be no movement in the steel market this week due to the China National Day holiday, and attention is drawn whether the market of next week after the holiday will maintain the upward trend or show a wait and see attitude again.
According to the feeling of the Japanese mills before the holiday, they observed that the market would not change so big.
According to the China Iron & Steel Association in regard to the price level of the last week in September 2012, on national average, the price of hot rolled steel coils was CNY 3,723, up by CNY 85 form the previous week. That of HR coils rose for 3 weeks in a row by CNY 173 in total. However, that stayed to increase by CNY 62 on monthly average in September 2012.
That of cold rolled steel sheets rose by CNY 35 from the previous week to CNY 4,481. It increased for 2 weeks in a row by CNY 80 in total. However, it decreased by CNY 10 on monthly average in September 2012 from that in August 2012. That of coated steel sheets was CNY 4,978, which also increased by CNY 60 in total for 2 weeks in a row. However, it dropped by CNY 27 on monthly average in September 2012.
That of steel plates rose by CNY 138 in total for 2 weeks in a row to CNY 3,601 which recovered the level of CNY 3,600. That increased by CNY 42 on monthly average in September 2012.
In the market, it seems to have been reflected that the public investments of CNY 1 trillion and the major mills maintained their domestic prices of steel products for September 2012 shipment. And, the report on decrease of crude steel in the middle of September also seems to have given a favorable impression on it. However, after then, prices of iron ore rose before the holiday, but shutdown mills are predicted to resume their operation due to rebound of the market prices. If it happens, a question mark is likely to be put in price rise of steel products after the holiday.
Source - TEX Report Limited
(www.steelguru.com)
