Hot-Rolled Coil Prices Strengthen Amid Rising Costs and Inventory Buildup; Consolidation Expected

August 27-28, 2026, the third Senior Officials’ Meeting of the 2026 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) was held in Dalian, Liaoning Province. Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu attended the meeting and delivered remarks. Ma Zhaoxu said that since the launch of the APEC “China Year” process, all parties had engaged in in-depth discussions, further built consensus on building an Asia-Pacific community, and preliminarily formed the “four beams and eight pillars” of the Asia-Pacific community, injecting new momentum into regional economic integration. China will be a good host and, together with all APEC parties, focus on pragmatic cooperation and inclusive development, deliver outcomes for the Informal Economic Leaders’ Meeting, and promote deeper, more substantive progress in building the Asia-Pacific community.

[SMM Steel] Market feedback indicated that for Q235B with an October shipment schedule, HRC with specifications of 3.5*1250*C had an EXW price, with a selling price of $510/mt, and the shipping port was Jingtang Port.

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) stated on August 28 that it had recently organized and convened a series of special meetings to step up efforts to advance work related to promoting effective investment. Regarding new-type policy-based financial instruments, it coordinated with relevant parties to accelerate the disbursement of funds from these instruments and increase support for private investment projects. Regarding the “Six Networks” initiative, it studied improvements to diversified investment and financing models for the “Six Networks,” refined support policies by category across fiscal, financial, investment, pricing, and other areas, optimized the policy mix, and accelerated the commencement and construction of major engineering projects. Meanwhile, focusing on the integration of the computing power network, the new-type power grid, and the next-generation communications network, it studied the establishment of a “2+3+N” coordination mechanism jointly participated in by two power grid companies, three telecom operators, and a number of computing power-related enterprises, to strengthen overall coordination and form a concerted working force. Regarding the “implement major national strategies and build up security capacity in key areas” initiative, it urged all localities to coordinate efforts in both “hard investment” and “soft development,” closely track construction progress and fund payments, strengthen project management in a practical and rigorous manner, accelerate the implementation of major projects, generate more tangible workload as early as possible, and simultaneously plan and build a pipeline of projects for 2027.