China steel futures rebound, post monthly losses on govt price crackdown

BEIJING: Chinese rebar and hot-rolled coil futures jumped on Monday after the market recorded heavy losses in the past few weeks following the government's vow to stabilise commodity prices, although they reported the first monthly drop in four.

The most-active construction rebar and hot-rolled coils contracts on the Shanghai Futures Exchange had jumped 14.5% and 17.5%, respectively, in the first 12 days this month before plunging more than 24% in the following two weeks.

Affected by Beijing's policy and market sentiment, ferrous prices have dropped. But iron ore's fall was lower than steel, which "had put up a lot of pressure on steel firms' operation", said Hunan Valin Steel.

The price for October delivery of rebar rose 2.5% to 5,027 yuan ($789.96) per tonne at close. The contract fell 6.8% in May.

Hot-rolled coils, used in the manufacturing sector, ended up 1.3% to 5,354 yuan a tonne and logged a 5.9% monthly drop.

Shanghai stainless steel futures, for July delivery, rose 2.7% to 15,750 yuan per tonne.

Benchmark iron ore futures on the Dalian Commodity Exchange, for September delivery, surged 45.3% to 1,106 yuan per tonne.

Spot prices of iron ore with 62% iron content for delivery to China, compiled by SteelHome consultancy, rose by $1 to $192.5 a tonne on Friday.

Other steelmaking ingredients were mixed.

Dalian coking coal fell 1.2% to 1,767 yuan a tonne while coke rose 2.5% to 2,479 yuan per tonne.

Capacity utilisation rates of blast furnaces at 247 mills across China rose to 91.41% last week, the highest since early March, according to Mysteel consultancy.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021