Chinese economy stabilizing, but steel prices likely to fall further: CISA

Author: Paul Ploumis19 Sep 2014 Last updated at 04:36:29 GMT

BEIJING (Scrap Monster): The latest report released by the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) states that though the country’s economy looks generally stable, there could be further fall in steel prices during rest of the year. According to the report, the Chinese economy may face short term pressures. The growth in urbanization and infrastructure activities may boost the demand, but prices are bound to fall further on account of oversupply, CISA notes.

During the initial eight months of the year, the prices of all steel making raw materials fell sharply. The iron ore prices plunged to lows of $90.85 per tonne towards end-August. The sharp fall in iron ore prices is mainly attributed to huge rise in imports and slowdown in domestic investment cycle, CISA cited.

Fixed asset investments declined during August this year. The real estate investment during January to August this year were up only by 13.2%, sharply lower when compared with the growth of 19.3% recorded during the corresponding eight-month period last year. New housing construction also fell by nearly 11% year-on-year.

According to CISA report, steel inventories in China continued to decline sharply during first two weeks of September. As on Sep 12th, the steel inventories reached 12.02 mt, considerably down when compared with the inventories of 12.33 mt during end-August. Meanwhile, the country’s crude steel output during the month of August totaled 68.91 million t, 1% higher from the previous month output.