Since this year, the demand for iron and steel has not increased as expected due to the price adjustment among the major steel enterprises. On the contrary, the lack of destocking and the increase of output value led to the continuous decline of steel sales price, which finally made the steel factory price and the market price difficult to "hang upside down". Many insiders pointed out that the current inventory of the entire steel industry is still very high, and the need for hard release will enable the entire profession to continue to roam in the "winter".
The insiders pointed out that the downward trend of the price of Wuxi seamless steel pipe is directly related to the high steel inventory as usual, while the effect of destocking is not significant, which leads to the low peak season of the steel industry.
In addition, the reporter also learned that at the beginning of March, a Hangzhou steel dealer sent a letter to Shagang, saying that on February 1 this year, Shagang raised the ex factory price by 200 yuan/ton, more than 250 yuan/ton higher than the actual transaction price before the market closure, when the spot market was now closed. Since the end of February, the spot price of steel has been declining, but the price of Shagang has remained at a high level in the first ten days of March, and only 100 yuan/ton is needed to make up the difference for the whole month of February, resulting in a loss of nearly 200 yuan/ton in the high inventory of dealers.
Some market people pointed out that the steel enterprises have repeatedly raised the factory price of products, which may be related to the optimistic market expectations at the beginning of this year. As we all know, from the end of last year to the Spring Festival of this year, favorable policies were introduced again and again, especially the opportunity brought by the new urbanization, which made most steel professionals optimistic about the market in the first half of this year. However, with the introduction of the Central Bank's price stability policy and the "Five National Rules", the sluggish steel market has been affected again.
Faced with the harsh reality, the steel enterprises have shaken their mood of continuing to raise the factory price. In addition to Baosteel's usual price increase, Angang Steel has chosen to lower the price, while Wuhan Iron and Steel has chosen the same price.
With regard to this price increase, Huatai Securities pointed out that since the end of last year, the sales volume of cars has significantly exceeded the expectations of the market, and Baosteel's orders in hand for auto plates are outstanding. It is reported that some of its orders have been snapped up. Under the background of strong demand, Baosteel took the opportunity to raise the ex factory price in April, which can further reduce the pressure on the cash side, and then determine some profits.
Influenced by factors such as low demand and high cost, the current situation of the steel industry is appropriately bleak, and many companies have suffered significant losses last year.
As for the situation of the iron and steel industry, Anyang Iron and Steel pointed out that from the perspective of the iron and steel industry, the "severe winter" is still very long, and the competition for the survival of the fittest will become more severe. At present, China's crude steel production capacity has exceeded 900 million tons, and the contradiction between supply and demand will become more prominent. The situation of high cost and low benefit in China's steel industry will not be fundamentally changed for a long time to come, and the era of low profit and even loss operation will exist for a long time.