According to Ministry of Commerce of China, domestic steel price gained 1.1% last week versus the previous week but social inventory of construction steel products hiked by 9.1%WoW or soaring by 44.7%MoM. It is expected that the steel price will stop moving up and tend to be flat in short period given the increasing output of steel makers.
The increasing operating rate in steel sector caused the coke price rise, with metallurgical coke in particular, seeing a lift of 2.3%. As the weather is getting warmer demand for construction steel is rallying, fueling the increase of demand for coke. Besides, the price rise of coking coal, the material of coke-making, pushed up the cost. So coke price is expected to climb up slightly.
Although steel prices have moved up slightly owing to BaoSteel and other major mills’ lifts of EXW prices as well as the rising material prices, the fact that domestic steel makers are now expanding production and their output will therefore apparently go up, will be enough to anticipate that steel price will stop rising and turn to stability in short period.
( Source: www.steelguru.com )