2018 Steel Price Forecast

1）2018 Steel Price Forecast

As the world’s leader in steel production, China has a strong influence on the steel industry as a whole. Two years ago, China’s massive steel output tanked steel prices as supply greatly outweighed demand. As we noted last year, Chinese production was set to decelerate as the Chinese economy shifts away from manufacturing and infrastructure and toward services. This trend is expected to continue as Chinese officials announced last year that the country will decrease steel production by more than 165 million tons by 2020.

2）China's February finished steel exports rebounded by 197,000 tonnes or 4.2% month on month to 4.85 million tonnes, according to the latest statistics released by China's General Administration of Customs on March 8

3）Chinese Hot rolled plate price curves recently：

Hot-rolled coil prices in eastern China have traded in a range of 2,890-4,360 yuan ($437-659) per tonne in 2017 compared with 1,940-4,020 yuan per tonne in 2016 .

Below curves showing the price changes of Chinese hot rolloed coil recently.