China Steel Futures Set For Weekly Gain On Higher Demand

Some steel mills started to lower their purchase price of coke for the fifth time this year by 100 yuan ($15.38) per tonne to rebalance uneven profit distribution at coking plants and steelmakers.



"Unlike the manufacturing sector that had returned to work, constructions normally restart after the Lantern Festival," said Wang Yingwu, chief analyst with Huatai Futures in Beijing, adding that construction demand will peak in April.



* China's coal consumption is expected to continue rising in 2021 despite Beijing's pledges to boost the use of clean energy and curb greenhouse gas emissions, the China National Coal Association said on Wednesday.



BEIJING, Feb 26 (Reuters) - China's benchmark iron ore futures rose on Friday and the market was on course for a more than 3% weekly jump, while steel rebar and hot rolled coil were also set to log gains for the week as downstream consumption continued to pick up.



* Salzgitter, Germany's second-largest steelmaker, has seen a significant demand recovery, its CEO said, adding mergers were not necessarily the best response to the industry's shift towards carbon-neutral production.



* Trading on the Shanghai Futures Exchange and Dalian Commodity Exchange will be halted on April 5 for the Tomb Sweeping holiday.

($1 = 6.5642 Chinese yuan) (Reporting by Min Zhang and Shivani Singh; editing by Uttaresh.V)



The most-active iron ore on the Dalian Commodity Exchange , for May delivery, slumped as much as 6.3% to 1,005 yuan ($154.55) a tonne, the lowest since Feb.

8. The contract fell 4.2% to 1,028 yuan by 0330 GMT.



"According to this requirement, after the June output is estimated, it is expected that the crude g60 galvanized steel output from July to December 2021 will need to be reduced by about 3.5 million tonnes year-on-year, with an average daily reduction of 19,000 tonnes," they said in a note.



Some steel mills started to lower their purchase price of coke for the fifth time this year, by 100 yuan ($15.38) per tonne, to rebalance uneven profit distribution at coking plants and steelmakers.



* China's top steelmaker Baowu Steel Group and regional producer Fujian Sangang Group have signed agreements to invest 20 billion yuan in two separate steel projects in the southeastern Fujian province, local media reported on Tuesday.



BEIJING, March 1 (Reuters) - Chinese coking coal futures slumped on Monday, falling more than 6% to their lowest in three months, as supply worries eased with stable domestic output and imports, though demand for the ingredient appeared promising on strong steel production.



"We see both domestic and international demand for Chinese manufactured goods recover this year," Fitch Solutions wrote in a note, referring to a global economic bounce-back from the pandemic as countries worldwide roll-out COVID-19 vaccines.



"The fact that steel margins rose from November to December also suggests that steel demand has held up reasonably well - potentially indicating that steel demand from China's infrastructure sector may be offsetting demand weakness from China's property sector," Dhar said.



* An aerospace parts maker in California is struggling to procure cold-rolled steel, while an auto and appliance parts manufacturer in Indiana is unable to secure additional supplies of hot-rolled steel from mills.



BEIJING, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Chinese iron ore futures dropped as much as 2.1% in early trade on Tuesday, after top steel-producing city Tangshan issued a second-level pollution alert forcing mills to curb production.



BEIJING, May 17 (Reuters) - Chinese construction rebar and hot rolled coils (HRC) futures declined on Monday, down for a third consecutive session after steel prices powered to historical highs last week and led regulators to step up inspections.



"It's certainly looking like prices will continue to rise in the short term. We're forecasting that prices will jump again by the end of this month and into April," said analyst Kaye Ayub at consultancy MEPS International.



* Brazil's February steel sales rose by 20.9% to 1.88 million tonnes from a year ago, according to trade group Aço Brasil.

($1 = 6.4993 Chinese yuan renminbi) (Reporting by Min Zhang and Dominique Patton; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Devika Syamnath)



CME now offers six ferrous products, including iron ore, and it remains to be seen whether the joint thrust to capture steel market pricing is mutually beneficial in the form of enhanced arbitrage or whether one exchange will emerge dominant.



The previous surge in coking coal prices was partly due to tight imports, but that has stabilized with adjustments to the import structure such as ramping up of purchases from Mongolia, said Liu Xinwei, chief researcher with Sublime China Information.



July 1 (Reuters) - Chinese steel futures rose for a seventh straight session on Thursday on lingering concerns over supply prospects as the world's top producer of the construction and manufacturing material seeks to reduce output this year.