Tangshan Billet Manufacturers Finally Get Started

The price of a 150mm square Q235 billet in Tangshan, the largest steelmaking center in northern China's Hebei province, rose from a four-month low last week to CNY 4,500/t ($671.2/t) on EXW terms, including VAT 13 %. as of June 2, an increase of 50 yuan per ton or 1.1% compared with May 27, according to Mysteel estimates.

Also last Thursday, the ten combined steel mills in Tangshan, regularly inspected by Mysteel, posted an average profit of 21 yuan per ton, including 13% VAT, the first positive profit the mills made from billet sales after five weeks of losses. poll found. The average production cost of steelmakers on the same day fell by another 93 yuan per ton, or 2%, from May 27 to 4,479 yuan per ton, including 13% VAT.

The price of Tangshan billet rebounded slightly at the end of last week, mainly due to support for semi-finished products gained from stronger contract prices for finished steel products such as rebar and coils in the futures market, a market watcher from the city noted.

Another market source in Tangshan mentioned that local distributors increased their purchases of blanks to replenish stocks of raw materials for production during China's Dragon Boat Festival holiday weekend on June 3-5, which to some extent supported the prices of blanks. As a result, billet stocks at 55 rolling mills in Tangshan under control of Mysteel rose markedly by 40,000 tons or 11.1% in a week to 400,000 tons as of June 1st.

However, according to Mysteel, the average daily billet consumption among these 55 rollers between May 26 and June 1 was 56,600 t/d, which is 1,100 t/d or 1.9% less than the previous week, mainly due to weak demand for final rolling. users reportedly.

In terms of billet supply, the capacity utilization rate of the 126 blast furnaces monitored by Mysteel in the Tangshan region increased in the sixth week by another 0.81 percentage points from May 26 to an average of 76.6% as of June 2.

However, average daily billet sales at the city's 30 steel mills covered by Mysteel fell 1,900 t/d or 4.7% from the previous week to 38,300 t/d between May 27 and June 2, reflecting the the fact that the factories did not want to increase their growth rates. supply of semi-finished products because, according to a local market analyst, they could only make a small profit from the sale of semi-finished products.

As of June 1, stocks of semi-finished products at six commercial warehouses, including two ports in Tangshan, were estimated by Mysteel to increase by 65,000 tons, or 9.2%, to 645,300 tons, up about 260,000 tons from the previous year. the same period in the previous year. A buildup of retail billet stocks could affect prices, a market analyst in Tangshan predicted.