Chinese steel rebar, hot rolled coils futures rise on demand hopes

Chinese steel rebar and hot rolled coils futures jumped on Thursday, as demand for the most traded May deliveries are expected to recover from the weak consumption season.

The most active construction rebar futures on the Shanghai Futures Exchange SRBcv1 increased 1.3% to 4,288 yuan ($679.53) a tonne at close, extending gains to a fourth straight session.

Hot rolled coils futures SHHCcv1, used in the manufacturing sector, also rose for the third consecutive session, and ended up 1.1% to 4,703 yuan per tonne.

“Demand expectation (for May contracts) are improving and performs better than the January contracts, we expect steel products will remain strong in longer term,” GF Futures wrote in a note.

Apparent consumption for five main steel products in China, including rebar, hot rolled coils, cold rolled coils and others, rose 2.6% as of Thursday to 9.79 million tonnes from the week earlier, data from Mysteel consultancy showed.

Shanghai stainless steel futures SHSScv1 fell 1.3% to 16,820 yuan a tonne.

Steelmaking raw materials on the Dalian Commodity Exchange declined.

Benchmark iron ore futures DCIOcv1, for January delivery, fell 3.5% to 601 yuan per tonne, while spot 62% iron ore stood at $105.5 a tonne on Wednesday SH-CCN-IRNOR62 , according to SteelHome consultancy.

Miners from Brazil exported 28.99 million tonnes of iron ore in November, down from 29.15 million tonnes in the same month a year earlier, according to local government.

Dalian coking coal futures DJMcv1 and coke DCJcv1 both slipped at close, retreating from gains in morning session. They fell 2.9% to 1,878 yuan a tonne and 1.7% to 2,710 yuan per tonne, respectively.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Min Zhang in Beijing and Enrico Dela Cruz in Manila; Editing by Rashmi Aich)