Baosteel maintains current flat steel prices for June sales

China’s leading steelmaker Baosteel has maintained current prices for flat products for sale on the domestic market in June.

This is the third month in a row that the company has applied this pricing strategy, indicating caution about market prospects in the near term. The only price increase this year was in February, for March sales. The company increased prices for most types of flat products by 100 yuan per tonne ($14 per tonne) in anticipation of the peak season.

Other major steel mills in China, Taiwan and Japan will soon announce their flat steel prices, and Baosteel’s move is likely to have an impact on the market.

Chinese hot-rolled coil prices remained stable at $470/t FOB in the second half of April. The fall in prices in this segment has been going on since October 2024 and has probably reached the bottom. This is evidenced by the weekly rise in price of May futures for hot-rolled steel on the Shanghai Stock Exchange – by $7, to $446-449/t.
Traders did not expect a rebound in prices in the long term, as the Politburo of the CPC Central Committee did not make any decisions important for the economy at its meeting on April 25.

As GMK Center reported earlier, China is advancing efforts to regulate steel production in the country to restore the balance between supply and demand amid a slowdown in the market. The China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) noted that production control remains a critical tool to stabilize the sector in the absence of more effective mechanisms.