Baoshan Iron and Steel Co., Ltd, also known as Baosteel, a subsidiary of state-run China Baowu Steel Group, maintained its domestic base prices stable for main steel products for April bookings.
These steel products include hot-rolled coil and sheet, heavy plate, cold-rolled coil and sheet, picked steel, and hot-dip galvanized coil.
On March 12, the price of Shanghai HRB 400 rebar (20 mm) stood at 3,610 yuan/t, while that for Shanghai hot-rolled coil (3.0 mm) and Tangshan Q235 billet were at 3,920 yuan/t and 3,410 yuan/t, respectively.
Baosteel's pricing decisions are generally regarded as a bellwether for the industry. The firm had maintained the prices unchanged for February bookings and raised the prices by 50-100 yuan/t for March.
The move keeping the price levels for April reflects the company became cautious about the sales outlook in the near term although domestic construction activity would typically see a recovery with warmer temperatures.
China's real estate and manufacturing activity remains under pressure, while the government has not adopted more favorable infrastructure stimulus measures that it has used to revive the economy in the past.
Baosteel's heavy plates are mainly used in shipbuilding, offshore platform, boiler, pressure vessel, pipeline, high building, bridge and heavy-duty trucks, etc. and hot-rolled steel products are widely used in ship, automobile, bridge, building, machinery and pressure vessel and other industrial applications.
(Writing by Riley Liang Editing by Alex Guo)
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