Orders for Commercial Car Up in March, with Demand Downstream Recovering

SHANGHAI, Mar. 20 (SMM) – The continued weakness in downstream market after the Chinese New Year holiday impeded transactions, with recovery in mechanism sector extraordinarily slow.

Steelease confirmed that orders for commercial cars fell 6-7% during the first two months, but staged a YoY growth in March, indicating a slight improvement. However, the increase in commercial car orders was still slow, and consumption should continue to edge up in March and April. Commercial car enterprises also reflected limited replenishments given the falling prices for hot-rolled coils and unclear price trends, and expected steel prices to rise, as the recovery in demand downstream and leadership transition should be major drivers for price increase. Thus, commercial car producers may stock goods in large amounts to avoid risk caused by rising prices.