October 12, 2008

Chinese SBQ steel market remains active

It is reported that China’s domestic ship steel market would remain steady generally. Although the price may fluctuate slightly in a period, it would not drop significantly and will remain high instead.

The quotation of 8mm ship plate from Baosteel is CNY 6,800 per tonne at present and offers of 10mm and 12mm to 20mm ship plate are CNY 6,500 per tonne and CNY 6,450 per tonne respectively up by over CNY 250 per tonne. The concluding price of 12mm to 20mm ship plate is around CNY 6,500 per tonne up by CNY 300 per tonne.

For transactions in ship plate market, traders said that the distribution is satisfying and they have already sold 4,000 tonnes with an average distribution of 500 tonnes to 600 tons at a price between CNY 6,250 per tonne to CNY 6,300 per tonne.

The supply of ship plate in the market is tight, so some big and medium sized shipbuilding companies place orders to steelworks directly. Only traders and small sized shipbuilding companies and boatyards purchase a small quantity in communicating market.