It is reported that Shanghai rebar steel futures dropped half a percent on Friday, after hitting two week highs in the previous session, as slower manufacturing output in China blurred the outlook for steel demand from the world''s No 1 consumer.
The most active October rebar contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange fell by CNY 25 per tonne to CNY 4,728 per tonne by 0606 GMT.
China''s factory output grew at its slowest pace in 28 months in June as new orders expanded less quickly, with weaker global demand and tight monetary policy at home pinching production.
Mr Henry Liu regional head of commodity research at Mirae Asset Securities in Hong Kong said “With the PMI a leading economic indicator, we''re going to see Chinese steel demand worsening in the third quarter. We already saw a sharp decline in manufacturing demand for steel in the second quarter but demand from construction remained quite strong.”
Mr Liu added that “But in the third quarter, we''ll probably see demand for both flat and long steel products slow down sharply given the seasonal weakness in construction
( Source: www.steelguru.com )