Short-term cost support will be seen Steel prices will swing narrowly this week

Ferrous metal market rebounded softly last week. The ppossible phase-out of Shanxi's 4.3-meter-high coke oven and regular production limit will make a dent in coke production. Macroeconomic data unveiled an increase by 0.2% MoM in CPI and 0.4% MoM in PPI. Real estate macro data revealed a gain of 19.8% YoY in completed area of ​​housing, and a loss in the rest.

Looking at the future, forthcoming phase-out of Shanxi's 4.3-meter-high coke oven and low feedstock inventory of steel plants will still give a big boost to raw material prices on the near-term horizon. Downstream sectors’ demand improvement picture will need to be watched. Under such circumstance, volatile steel prices may linger, and profits of steel mills will fluctuate within a narrow range this week.