Steel prices in China, the world’s biggest producer, rose to the highest in almost seven months after production cuts reduced supply and as construction companies restocked.
Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil, a benchmark product, rose for a seventh straight day, by 0.3 percent, to 4,450 yuan （$668） a metric ton yesterday, the highest since May 12, according to the Beijing Antaike Information Development Co.
Provinces including Hebei, Shandong and Zhejiang started to restrict power supply to steelmakers from September, reducing steel output. Construction sites in China’s southern provinces are increasing purchases of building materials, boosting steel demand, according to China International Capital Corp.
“December-January is usually the time for construction companies to stock material for use after the Chinese New Year. Building works in the middle and southern regions are also active,” Luo Wei, a Shanghai-based analyst with CICC, said by phone today.
Prices of reinforcing bars, used in construction, gained 0.4 percent to 4,607 yuan a ton, the highest since Aug. 2009, according to Antaike.
China produced 50.3 million tons of crude steel in October, the second lowest amount this year after making 47.9 million tons in September, the National Bureau of Statistics said.
Steel inventories held by domestic traders have fallen 30 percent to 13.1 million tons in the week of Nov. 26 from the high reached on March 5, according to researcher UC361.com.
--Helen Yuan. Editor: Alan Soughley
豫公网安备41010502003434号