April 7, 2024
This week, the global steel market is generally stable and weak. In terms of semi-finished products, China's billet market prices continued to decline this week, falling by US$17/ton on a week-on-week basis. The quotations of billets and slabs from a mainstream steel mill in Indonesia fell by around US$5. Overall, there are few steel billet export transactions in Southeast Asia. As the active buyer Egypt is affected by Ramadan and the exchange rate, recent demand has been relatively sluggish. Russian billet prices remained stable compared with last week, and slab prices fell by US$30/ton from last week. Due to the weak demand for Iranian billet during Ramadan, the transaction price of Iranian billet was around US$470/ton FOB, unchanged from the week-on-week basis.
In terms of long products, the price of construction steel in China's Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei market fell sharply, ranging from 60-150 yuan/ton. Black futures fell sharply, and the market mentality was unstable. The price of rebar in the Vietnamese market fell slightly by VND100/kg at the beginning of the week, and local market demand remained weak due to the impact of the real estate industry. The export quotation of rebar in the Turkish market is between US$590 and US$610, which is the same as last week. Its raw materials are affected by the collapse of the Baltimore Bridge, and the freight costs have intensified, pushing up the price of deep-sea scrap steel. The rebar market in the UAE also remains slow due to reduced working hours during Ramadan and a slow traditional economy.
In terms of flat materials, China's hot coil export quotations dropped significantly this week, ranging from US$10 to US$25/ton, and market transactions weakened, with a strong wait-and-see sentiment. As there is currently no good news to boost the Vietnamese market, downstream procurement is still cautious, and the decline in hot roll import quotations has expanded. Due to the Holi holiday this week in the Indian market, the market trading atmosphere is also light. On Friday, the price of hot coil dropped by 500 rupees/ton ($6/ton) week-on-week. Overall, the trading atmosphere in the global steel market is generally light. In some areas, demand is weak due to the impact of Ramadan, and most buyers are in a wait-and-see mode. Mysteel predicts that steel prices may continue the weak trend.
