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What is the recent price trend of sheet metal?

2024-07-22 10:22:19

In June, China's steel market operated weakly and steel prices continued to fall. Take Shanghai market as an example, in June, the price of cold rolled steel plate fell by RMB150/tonne, the price of hot rolled steel coil fell by RMB80/tonne, the price of medium plate fell by RMB140/tonne, the price of rebar steel fell by RMB160/tonne, the price of wire rod fell by RMB110/tonne, and the loss of some manufacturers was obvious.


Entering July, China's steel market is still not obvious, market trading is cold. the first week of July, the Shanghai market, hot rolled coil prices rose 30 yuan / tonne, cold rolled coil prices fell slightly.

At present, steel prices have basically reached the lowest point, the possibility of continuing to fall is not great. This also largely determines the late steel prices are expected to stop falling. With the gradual weakening of the impact of the weather, late demand will improve.

cold rolled steel plate
Later steel prices continue to fall space is limited, there will not be a big drop, the main reasons are as follows:

From the macro level, the national economy continues to pick up momentum, the overall smooth operation.

Since the beginning of this year, China has been increasing the implementation of macro policies, continue to promote the national economy rebound to good, industrial production to maintain faster growth.

In June, China's manufacturing boom continued to rise, the June Caixin China Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) was 51.8 per cent, up 0.1 percentage points from a year earlier, hitting a record high since June 2021, and for eight consecutive months was above the glory line (50 per cent).

This indicates that manufacturing production and business activities are expanding at an accelerated pace.

From the demand level, the downstream industry production and sales conditions improved, ‘steel demand’ toughness is still strong.

Recently, automobiles, home appliances, construction machinery and other manufacturing industry production and sales conditions generally improved, production and sales growth. Passenger car market information association data show that in June, China's passenger car market retail sales reached 1,755,000 units, an increase of 2%. Since the beginning of this year, China's passenger car market retail sales reached 9.828 million units, up 3 per cent year-on-year. Data from the General Administration of Customs showed that in May, China exported 569,000 vehicles, up 2.3 per cent from a year earlier and 29.7 per cent year-on-year. In the first five months of this year, China exported 2.446 million vehicles, up 26.6 per cent year-on-year.

Home appliance manufacturing industry production and sales conditions have also improved.

According to industry institutions, in June, China's air conditioning, refrigerators, washing machines, total output reached 35.57 million units, an increase of 13.2 per cent year-on-year, to maintain the trend of double-digit growth. According to estimates, in July, China's refrigerator export row production of 4.36 million units, an increase of 8.6%; washing machine export row production of 3.28 million units, an increase of 5.3%. Overall, overseas market demand remains high, part of the home appliance enterprises export orders full.

According to the China Construction Machinery Industry Association statistics, in June, China's sales of various types of excavators 16,603 units, all types of loaders 10,794 units, an increase of 5.31%, 26.2%. Among them, domestic sales reached 7,661 units, 5,296 units, an increase of 25.6%, 22.6%.

From the automobile, home appliances, engineering machinery manufacturing production and sales situation, the late cold and hot rolled coil, plate market demand is expected to increase, will help to keep steel prices stable.

From the supply level, by the impact of the contraction of the profitability of steel enterprises, the supply has declined. Due to the continuous decline in steel prices in the previous period, some steel enterprises fell into a loss, resulting in an increase in production cuts. China Iron and Steel Industry Association data show that in late June, the key statistical steel enterprises produced 21,676,500 tonnes of crude steel, 19,373,000 tonnes of pig iron and 22,839,900 tonnes of steel. Among them, the average daily production of crude steel reached 2.1676 million tonnes, down 0.80% on a ten-day basis, down 3.49% year-on-year; the average daily production of pig iron reached 1.9373 million tonnes, down 1.17% on a ten-day basis, down 4.50% year-on-year; and the average daily production of steel reached 2.284 million tonnes, up 8.86% on a ten-day basis, and down 0.97% year-on-year.

Recently, the steel enterprises to limit production, production cuts increased, steel production to maintain a downward trend, is expected to later put the market resources will not increase significantly. This helps to change the current market ‘strong supply and weak demand’ situation, the market supply and demand conflicts will also support the stabilisation of steel prices later.