Today, rebar futures fluctuated downward, closing at 3,100, down 1.21% from the previous trading day. In the spot market, quotations in most regions softened, with declines ranging from 10 to 30 yuan/mt. Market sentiment weakened significantly compared to the previous two days, and trading activity was sluggish. With restocking before the holiday largely completed, traders mostly adopted a wait-and-see attitude, and overall trading performance was average.
On the supply side, according to SMM's weekly maintenance survey, the impact from maintenance on construction steel production this week was 1.1543 million mt, a decrease of 50,000 mt WoW, indicating a slight increase in supply. However, looking ahead to May, blast furnace steel mills have seen good order intake for billet exports, with expectations of reducing finished steel output by selling more billets. EAF steel mills, affected by difficulties in steel scrap collection and poor profitability, continue to see a downward trend in operating rates. It is expected that the supply pressure on finished steel will ease somewhat after the holiday. On the demand side, with futures fluctuating downward and market trading performance remaining average, there was only a small amount of pre-holiday stockpiling demand. As the Labour Day holiday approaches, markets in various regions are gradually closing, and trading enthusiasm is low, with most maintaining a cautious wait-and-see attitude. Therefore, it is expected that construction steel prices will continue to consolidate weakly tomorrow.
