China’s domestic rebar prices pick up on early-hour futures gains

China’s domestic rebar prices pick up on early-hour futures gains
Published by:Jessica Zong<>
17 Apr 2025 @ 09:47 UTC

China’s domestic rebar prices moved up slightly on Thursday April 17 prompted by an earlier rise in futures market prices. This led to an initial uptick in transaction activity, which subsequently experienced a rapid decline, sources told Fastmarkets. Fastmarkets’ daily price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar) domestic, ex-whs Eastern China was 3,030-3,050 yuan ($415-418) per tonne on Thursday, up by 10 yuan per tonne from 3,020-3,040 per tonne on Wednesday April 16.
The most-traded October rebar futures contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange reached an intraday high of 3,118 yuan per tonne before giving up all gains in the later trading hours. This marked an increase of 25 yuan per tonne from Wednesday’s closing price of 3,093 yuan per tonne.
The early hour price rise in the futures market spurred sellers in the spot market to increase their rebar prices, sources said.
Buyers were actively purchasing in the morning when the futures contract price was on the rise. However, they became more cautious and less active in the afternoon following the price decrease.
A trader based in Shanghai said his sales volume of rebar on Thursday was lower than that of Wednesday, while a second trader indicated that he barely maintained his sales volume.
Market Chatter
The sentiment in the rebar market was neutral on Thursday. On the one hand, the ongoing trade war continues to exert downward pressure on the commodity market. On the other hand, the oversupply situation for rebar is easing because some mills have cut back on production, an industry analyst said, citing a local industry information provider which indicated that weekly rebar output at major mills totaled 2.29 million tonnes over the week ended Thursday, down by 31,500 tonnes from 2.32 million tonnes in the preceding week.
Billet
Fastmarkets’ daily price assessment forsteel billet domestic, exw Tangshan, Northern China was 2,960 yuan per tonne including value-added tax on Thursday, up by 10 yuan per tonne from 2,950 yuan per tonne on Wednesday. Shanghai Futures Exchange
The most-traded October rebar futures contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange closed at 3,092 yuan per tonne on Thursday, down by 1 yuan per tonne from the closing price of 3,093 yuan per tonne on Wednesday.