November 22, 2008

Square billet price continue to drop in Hebei

It is reported that square billet market was not good and the quotation was in disorder in Hebei province. The square billet transaction price in Hebei continued to drop by CNY 50 per tonne due to the demands declined. At present, the whole domestic steel market was in sluggish and the downstream merchants were very cautious to buy billets. There was a strong atmosphere of wait and see in the whole square billet market.

Insiders analyzed that the main reason for this was as follows.

1. Square billet demand decreased due to the construction in raining days since middle of June.
2. Some steel plants faced tight capital pressures due to the government raised the deposit reserve ratio and the slight turnover rate in market.
3. Steel price fluctuated due to the construction after the earthquake.

At present, billet price trends to be weak in Hebei province and square billet price in Tangshan dropped CNY 50 per tonne. Price of carbon 150 billets was CNY 5350 per tonne, CNY 5400 per tonne for triangle 165 billet prices and CNY 5500 per tonne for low alloy billet price.