HRC Prices Expected to Fluctuate as Chinese New Year Approaches, Trading Sentiment Weak

Recently, the China Construction Machinery Association released the latest data for the "Construction Machinery Market Index" for January 2026. The data showed that in January, the average monthly working hours for China's main construction machinery products were 72.5 hours, up 23.9% YoY, but down 5.19% MoM. Among them, excavators recorded 62.8 hours. In January, the average monthly operating rate for China's main construction machinery products was 48.1%, down 2.63 percentage points YoY and down 3.63 percentage points MoM. Among them, the excavator operating rate was 48.6%.

Driven by the decline in the US dollar index and the overall rise in global financial asset prices, China's foreign exchange reserves continued their upward trend. Data released by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on February 7 showed that, as of the end of January, China's foreign exchange reserves amounted to $3,399.1 billion, an increase of $41.2 billion from the end of December 2025, representing a growth of 1.23%. Data published on the same day on the website of the People's Bank of China indicated that, as of the end of January, China's gold reserves reached 74.19 million ounces, up 40,000 ounces MoM. This marks the 15th consecutive month that the People's Bank of China has increased its gold holdings.

On February 9, monitoring by the China Index Academy showed that in January 2026, a total of 105,000 foreclosed properties were listed nationwide, up 3.6% YoY, with a cumulative 113,000 auction rounds held. Ultimately, 16,000 units were sold, up 2.0% YoY, resulting in an inventory clearance rate of 14.9%. The total transaction value reached 21.59 billion yuan, down 3.4% YoY, while the average transaction price was 5,204 yuan per square meter, down 2.7% YoY, and the average discount rate stood at 71%. By property type, residential properties accounted for 54.2% of the transaction value, representing the most-traded segment.