China steel futures steady, mill output cuts continue
Chinese steel futures held steady on Tuesday, but prices for steelmaking raw material iron ore dropped as steel mills in the world's top producer cut output.
China's government has vowed to clear its air, ordering 28 cities to curb industrial production, prompting a shortage of supplies in some steel products including rebar for construction use.
However, steel demand is expected to decline seasonally in late December as cold weather hits construction, offsetting upward momentum in prices driven by the supply shortages.
"Rebar is positive as the output curb has led to falling inventories at both steel mills and commercial warehouses. The market is tightly balanced," said Wang Yilin, an analyst with Sinosteel Futures in Beijing.
The most active rebar on the Shanghai Futures Exchange was trading almost flat at 3 922 yuan ($592.22) a tonne by the midday break.
China's top steelmaking province of Hebei issued its second-highest air pollution alert on Tuesday, with 10 industrial cities carrying out emergency anti-pollution measures including further cuts at steel mills and coke plants.
Iron ore was the weakest of steelmaking raw materials traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange, with the May contract dropping 0.7% to 504.5 yuan a tonne.
Coking coal edged up 0.8% to 1,288.5 yuan a tonne and coke rose 1.1% to 2 117 yuan a tonne.
Iron ore for delivery to China's Qingdao port slipped 0.8% to $68.82 a tonne, according to Metal Bulletin.
Comments
The
content
you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.
If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.
If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.
For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation