Since this year, China’s steel market volatility.After a downturn in the first quarter, demand has gradually recovered since the second quarter. Recently, some steel mills have seen a significant increase in orders, and even queued up to pick up the goods.
Dozens of lorries line the road in front of a steel mill in Laiwu district of Jinan, Shandong province, at 10 p.m.The trucks are waiting for stainless steel plates and hot rolled coil plates produced in the last two days. Some drivers have been waiting for more than an hour.
Data shows: In June, the national steel output of 115.85 million tons, a year-on-year growth of 7.5%;The apparent consumption of crude steel was 90.31 million tons, up 8.6% year on year.According to the situation of the downstream steel industry, compared with the first quarter, the area under construction of real estate, the output of automobiles and ships increased by 145.8%, 87.1% and 55.9% respectively in the second quarter, which strongly supported the steel industry.
At present, in the national mainstream market, the price of rebar, which is mainly used in construction, is 3630 yuan/ton, which has increased by 230 yuan/ton compared with the low point in March and April this year.The price of hot-rolled coil, which is widely used in home appliances, automobiles, machinery, pressure vessels and other manufacturing industries, is about 4070 yuan/ton, up 860 yuan/ton from the previous low.Rising prices, driven by rising demand, have also deterred most steel traders from stocking up.
According to the monitoring by the China Iron and Steel Association, in late June, the social stock of five types of commonly used steel (medium plate, cold-rolled sheet, hot-rolled sheet, wire and rebar) in the country’s major steel markets was 12.16 million tons, down 960,000 tons month-on-month or 7.3%.Analysts believe that with the end of the rainy season in southern China and the arrival of the “golden Nine Silver ten” traditional steel sales season, steel social inventory will be further digested.
In addition, as a result of overseas market demand is sluggish, this also further compressed the development space of domestic steel enterprises.Statistics show that from January to June, China exported a total of 28.704 million tons of steel, a year-on-year decrease of 5.654 million tons.The ferrous metal smelting and rolling processing industry realized an operating income of 3.186.04 billion yuan, down 3.8% compared with the same period last year.The total profit reached 84.08 billion yuan, down 40.3% year-on-year.
Although demand and prices are bouncing back, but in fact, due to the huge increase in raw material prices, the overall profit of steel mills is still under pressure this year, many steel mills have changed the product structure, to high-end products for profit.According to Shandong Taishan Iron and Steel Group, the price of iron ore, the raw material, has risen sharply this year. Recently, the price has risen by more than 20% compared with the same period of last year. This has caused the steel mill to increase sales but reduce profits.
