Latest Update in the China Finished Steel Market

A total of 84 vessels carrying 12.31 million mt of iron ore arrived at major Chinese ports during April 11-17, SMM estimates. This was down 890,000 mt from the previous week, and basically flat from the same period last year.

Global new container ship orders started to increase significantly since Q3 2020, and reached a record high in the past 13 years in Q1 2021.

The dollar slumped to a six-week low against major peers on Monday, with Treasury yields near their lowest in five weeks, after the U.S. Federal Reserve reiterated its view that any spike in inflation was likely to be temporary.

The following table shows the ferrous and nonferrous metals movement on the SHFE and DCE on April 19, 2021

The dollar fell to a four-week low against a basket of currencies on Friday, still smarting from a sharp drop in U.S. Treasury yields the previous session, and as investors increasingly bought into the Federal Reserve’s insistence it would keep an accommodative policy stance for a while longer.

The following table shows the ferrous and nonferrous metals movement on the SHFE and DCE on April 16, 2021

Inventories of rebar across Chinese steelmakers and social warehouses stood at 13.74 million mt as of April 15, down 6.3% from a week ago. Stocks are down 14.7% from a year earlier.

An SMM survey showed that 35 steel makers in China plan to produce a total of 10.06 million mt of hot-rolled coils and plates in April, up 2.3%, or 227,600 mt, from the realised output in March.