China Steels Price Has Risen 14 Weeks

BEIJING, July 24 -- Steels prices in China had kept climbing by 14 straight weeks till last week, according to statistics from the China Iron and Steel Association.

    The composite price index of steel products reached 104.88 last week, up 1.12 percent over the previous week.

    Lange Steel's survey on 30 steel products showed that the prices of 21 varieties rose by 30-300 yuan/ton last week, the prices of eight kept unchanged and only one posted a fall in its price.

    Steels sales usually enter the slack season from mid-July. However, this July saw a price hike of steel products thanks to the warming up of downstream industries, analysts note.

    China's largest steel maker Baosteel earlier raised its ex-factory prices by more than 10 percent for August, with prices of hot-rolled and cold-rolled steel products up 300-500 yuan/ton, and prices of galvanized zinc and color-coated respectively up 500 yuan/ton.

    Lange Steel forecasted that prices of 25 steel products will rise further this week, but the growth margin may shrink to about 50 yuan/ton.

    (Source: chinamining.org)