December 26, 2023
Global ferrous metal prices have been mixed this week. Domestically, rain and snow have affected transportation, hindering the supply of steel materials, and the supply of raw materials has been tight. Iron ore prices rose on the back of tight supply and acceptable demand, while bifocal prices remained stable. Currently in the pre-holiday accumulation stage, coupled with the general market expectations of interest rate cuts, market sentiment is improving, which supports finished product prices. Affected by the pre-holiday replenishment of steel mills, the demand for hot coils is acceptable and the inventory is currently at a low level. However, the steel mills are slow to make winter storage of building materials and mostly wait and see, resulting in continued accumulation of building materials and making it difficult to remove them in the short term. Overall, the domestic market operates with a trend of strong raw materials and weak finished products, strong flat products and weak long products. Internationally, billet quotations in Southeast Asia ended their upward trend and began to fall. However, due to high costs, Vietnam's 3sp billet continued its upward trend. Affected by climate factors, steel mills in the Middle East and the CIS have reduced production, inventory levels have dropped, and export quotas have been restricted. Steel billet export prices continue to rise, with prices in Iran and Russia having more advantages. In addition, long steel prices in Vietnam have risen for three consecutive weeks this month, but demand is sluggish amid a downturn in the real estate industry. This round of increases is still due to costs supporting steel prices, rather than demand. At the same time, the price of imported scrap steel in Turkey is temporarily stable. It is currently in the off-season of demand. Traders mostly adopt a wait-and-see attitude. The demand for long products continues to be weak, and export quotations have been reduced. With the arrival of the Christmas holiday, downstream steel demand will further shrink, and the overall market will be in a game pattern of strong expectations and weak reality.
