Shagang rolls over long steel list prices for early-Nov sales

Shagang Group (Shagang), China's leading privately-owned steelmaker, has decided to hold its long-product list prices for sales during November 1-10 from late-October, the company announced Saturday.

Consequently, Shagang continues to keep its price for HRB400 16-20mm rebar at Yuan 3,450/tonne ($485/t), its HPB300 6-10mm wire rods stay priced at Yuan 3,470/t, and its HRB400 8-10mm bar-in-coil is still at Yuan 3,560/t, according to its announcement. All prices are EXW and include the 13% VAT.

Shagang, also the country's largest electric-arc-furnace steelmaker, updates its longs list prices three times a month to better reflect market dynamics, as Mysteel Global has reported.

The mill has now rolled over its longs prices for five consecutive sales cycles, a decision which market watchers in East China say reflects the steelmaker's cautious, wait-and-see approach for the near-term long steel market.

Market sentiment improved in late-October, buoyed by the US Federal Reserve's interest rate cut announced on October 29, and the meeting on October 30 between Chinese president Xi Jinping and US president Donald Trump that helped diffuse China-US trade tensions, as reported. The brighter mood prompted steel end-users to re-enter the market to procure low-priced cargoes.

As of October 31, the spot price of HRB400E 20mm rebar in Shanghai – a major market for Shagang brand rebar – had improved by Yuan 30/t from the price on October 20 to reach Yuan 3,230/t including the 13% VAT, Mysteel's assessment showed.

For rebar derivatives, the most-traded rebar futures contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange for next January delivery closed the daytime trading session on October 31 at Yuan 3,106/t, up by 1.6% or Yuan 48/t from the settlement price on October 20.

In late-October, the daily spot trading volume of long steel products including rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 trading houses under Mysteel's coverage gained ground, with the tonnage registering 102,982 tonnes/day on average, up by 6.3% or by 6,132 t/d from mid-October.

Source:Mysteel Global