SHANGHAI, Jun 29 (SMM) — This is a roundup of news in the steel industry for last week.

China State Council dispatched 16 teams to supervise production safety

Work Safety Committee of the State Council dispatched 16 teams to inspect and supervise the production safety in 31 provinces, cities, an regions, as well as the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps. The inspection will be carried out starting from early July. Drawing lessons from recent accidents in some regions and industries, the inspection will focus on the major hidden dangers in 15 industries, including coal mines, non-coal mines, fire protection, hazardous chemicals, industry and trade, gas, housing and municipal engineering construction, schools, road traffic, water transportation, road transportation, fishery shipbuilding, tourism, special equipment, and sports.

Cement prices tumble to new lows

The cement market saw a new round of price cuts recently. Cement companies in many places issued notices to lower the cement of different types by around 10-30 yuan/mt. The prices had dropped for many rounds by over 10% since late May, returning to the March level as of mid-June, and the falling trend extended. The price fluctuation was wider than previous years in the off-peak season. Kong Xiangzhong, executive officer of the China Cement Association, said that the price decline was reasonable, since the price growth was too fast in the past few months. The cement market may recover in early July, but will stagnate for more than a month in late July during the rainy season.

Output of 11 key automobile enterprises dropped by 37.7% YoY in early and mid-June

China Association of Automobile Manufactures disclosed that in early and mid-June 2021, 11 key automobile enterprises produced 864,000 vehicles, a decrease of 37.7% year on year. Retail sales of passenger vehicles in June declined 38.1%, and sales of commercial vehicles fell 35.7% on the year.

NDRC to investigate the iron ore spot market transactions

The Price Department of the National Development and Reform Commission and the Price Supervision and Anti Unfair Competition Bureau of the State Administration for Market Supervision jointly visited the Beijing Iron Ore Trading Centre to investigate the operation of the iron ore market and price changes, and held a symposium to study how to ensure the supply and price stability of iron ore and other commodities. It was noted that iron ore prices had risen sharply, increasing the operation pressure of mid and downstream enterprises. The government will support the healthy development of iron ore spot trading platforms, and encourage market entities to trade in compliance with laws and regulations. At the same time, they will pay close attention to changes in spot trading prices, timely investigate abnormal transactions and malicious speculation, and publicly penalise the actions including implementing monopoly agreements, disseminating news of price increase news and price manipulation so as to maintain good market order.

Sharp increase in raw material prices kept striking downstream industries

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) hosted a symposium on the industrial economic operation of some provinces and cities of H1 2021 in Beijing on June 21. It was emphasised that the overseas environment remained complex and changeable. The foundation for the full recovery of the domestic economy was not strong enough, and the structural differentiation between supply and demand, industries, regions, and enterprises extended, suppressing the continuous recovery of demand. The rising raw material prices kept striking downstream industries and small and medium-sized enterprises. The problem signs and hidden dangers are worth high attention.

CISA: Steel prices reached a high level

According to China Iron and Steel Association, the steel prices had reached a high level, and had not momentum to further increase without obvious changes on supply and demand sides. The prices may fall back amid weakened demand.