SHANGHAI, Mar. 7(SMM) -
Forecast:
Shasteel is expected to maintain second grade rebar price at RMB 4,050/mt, and third grade rebar price at RMB 4,150/mt, with decreases of RMB 100-120/mt.
Reasons:
Shasteel’s second grade steel prices in Hangzhou were RMB 3,780-3,800/mt today, RMB 150/mt below rebar prices.
Inventories grew noticeably due to sluggish demand. Rebar inventories in Hangzhou grew by 200,000 mt, to 850,000 mt after the Chinese New Year holiday, higher than the forecast of 700,000 -800,000 mt.
As demand from the building sector did not improve yet, most distributors had more than one and a half months of inventories, and this led to cash flow problems.
Steelease Viewpoint:
Rebar futures prices slumped due to the news of additional regulations to the real estate sector, and the room for increases in March-April will be refrained as demand will not improve soon and due to cash flow problems. With sluggish orders from steel plants, some plants began to lower prices or discounted goods, and this will pull down prices further. Shasteel will not adjust prices significantly until demand becomes clear, so rebar prices in early March should remain flat.
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