[SMM Rebar Daily Review] Real estate data in April cooled down, construction steel prices continued to face downward pressure

Today, rebar futures fluctuated downward, closing at 3069, down 1.00% from the previous trading day. On the spot cargo side, market trading enthusiasm waned, with spot cargo quotes in multiple regions loosening, showing declines ranging from 10 to 30 yuan/mt. Trading performance was weak throughout the day. On the supply side, currently, many blast furnace steel mills still have profits exceeding 100 yuan/mt, with little willingness to cut production. EAF steel mills, constrained by difficulties in acquiring steel scrap, mostly maintain production at off-peak and mid-peak electricity rates, with limited room for upward output growth. Overall supply remains stable. On the demand side, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics today showed that the MoM decline in new housing starts in the real estate sector in April was 24.2%, an expansion of 5.5 percentage points from the 18.7% decline in March. It is difficult to say that the industry's downturn has bottomed out, and construction steel demand remains weak. Overall, the current imbalance in the fundamentals of the construction steel market is not prominent. However, in the short term, market sentiment is influenced by macro data, with low trading enthusiasm and a cautious wait-and-see attitude prevailing. Therefore, it is expected that construction steel prices will continue to be in the doldrums tomorrow.