National Development and Reform Commission: March Steel Prices Decline Significantly

According to the CCTV economic information broadcast report, statistics show that the average price drop of rebar, medium-thick plate and hot-rolled coil in steel price is not small, down 10.4%, 8.7% and 8.2% respectively from the previous month.

Industry insiders believe that on the one hand, overcapacity, the first quarter, China's average monthly steel production reached more than 1.3 million tons, compared with the fourth quarter of last year increased by 15% to 19%, and the country’s fixed asset investment in January and February increased by 26 %, but the most relevant to steel, real estate investment growth is only about 1%, so the rebar price drop is the largest.

Experts believe that the sluggish demand and overcapacity are still the biggest contradiction in the steel industry in China. In addition, the reduction in exports is also an important factor in the price of steel. According to statistics, last year China exported 59.18 million tons of steel, an average of 4.93 million tons per month. In the first three months of this year, the average monthly export volume was only one million tons, which led to the accumulation of millions of tons of steel that should have been exported domestically. However, experts also pointed out that with the gradual deepening of the investment of 4 trillion yuan, and the adjustment of production capacity of steel companies, steel prices will gradually rise.