International Finance News reported that the steel prices are still on an upward path in this winter. But the fundamental factors do not support a long term wide increase.
A small steel trader based at Baoshan district in Shanghai said the market is comparatively hot, my business is fine as well and quite a few traders have started to build stocks due mainly to rising expectation.
As to price trend, the paper found from some analysts that the short term market will continue to run under financial market adjustment and is subject to corrections this period. Of this, the flat products that did not gain too much previously may not treat a lot.
Some industry insiders remind that the short term trend may be bolstered by winter storage but it should last long; on demand and supply, the consumption is to become weak while supply is not as insufficient as imagined. They further revealed that the decline in social steel stock is mainly contributed by wire rod rather than flat products.
In medium term, the inflationary expectation and abundant fluidity should not reverse plus hiking production cost, it will support the market to move up further.