[SMM Weekly Summary] Steel Mills Continued to Hold Prices Firm, GO Silicon Steel Operated Steadily This Week

Grain-Oriented Silicon Steel Price Dynamics

Shanghai B23R085 Grade: 11,900-11,900 yuan/mt

Wuhan 23RK085 Grade: 11,300-11,300 yuan/mt

This week, China's grain-oriented silicon steel market was in the doldrums. Prices in mainstream markets in Shanghai and Wuhan remained stable, with no public price adjustment operations, and overall transaction performance was average.

Supply side, production schedules of mainstream steel mills remained stable. After the August EXW base price of grain-oriented silicon steel was raised by 50 yuan/mt, mainstream steel mills such as Baosteel and Shougang Group have released September futures price policies, with the base price of grain-oriented silicon steel raised by another 50 yuan/mt, marking two consecutive months of EXW price increases (Sina Finance). Raw material costs combined with the September price hike policies further strengthened cost bottom support, and steel mills' willingness to hold prices firm was strong, providing strong support for spot market prices. However, the current period is the traditional off-season for demand, and the positive impact of steel mills' price increases is blocked from being transmitted downstream, with spot prices lacking momentum to follow up and being unable to drive spot prices to rise.

Demand side, under high-temperature weather, the transformer industry enters a traditional off-season, and the pace of power grid tender projects landing is relatively slow. End-user transformer enterprises adopt conservative procurement strategies, mostly maintaining only essential scattered replenishment, with insufficient willingness for active batch stockpiling. Market communication atmosphere is sluggish, and industry participants are generally cautious.

Overall, supply and demand continue to compete. Two consecutive rounds of EXW price increases by steel mills in August and September, combined with raw material costs, effectively limit the room for deep price declines. However, there is no clear signal of demand recovery in the short term. It is expected that grain-oriented silicon steel will remain stable next week, continuing the pattern of in-the-doldrums consolidation, with market transactions still dominated by essential demand. The market will continue to monitor the progress of power grid tender fulfillment, downstream transformer enterprise production schedules, and fluctuations in raw material costs.

Data Source Statement:

(Except for publicly available information, all other data in this report are derived from public information (including but not limited to industry news, seminars, exhibitions, corporate financial reports, brokerage reports, NBS data, customs import/export data, various data released by major associations and institutions, etc.), market communication, and relying on SMM's internal database models, comprehensively analyzed and reasonably inferred by the research team. This report is for reference only and does not constitute decision-making advice.

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