The steel pipe market gradually stabilized and the price changes are not obvious. According to data from China Steel Spot Net, as of press time, the average price of 108*4.5 seamless pipes in key cities nationwide was 3,473 yuan/ton, which was a drop of 2 compared with yesterday, among which the Jinan market dropped by 50. The average price of 1.5-inch*3.25 welded pipes in major national cities was 2,736 yuan/ton, which was stable compared with yesterday.

[Macro and downstream news snapshots]

1 Last year, China exported 93.78 million tons of steel, an increase of 50.5% compared to 2013, and the increase in imports of steel is only 2.5%. The data shows that since 1949, China’s accumulated steel exports reached 596 million tons and imports were 594 million tons. The total amount of steel exports exceeded the total imports for the first time, which also indicated that China’s steel industry has completed its transition from a steel importer to a steel exporter.

2 After a long period of brewing, the new urbanization process ushered in a major breakthrough. The National Development and Reform Commission released the National New Urbanization Comprehensive Pilot Program (hereinafter referred to as the “Program”) on February 4th, listing 62 cities (towns) including Jiangsu, Anhui, and Ningbo as the national new pilot areas for urbanization.

3 The People's Bank of China decides to universally reduce the deposit reserve ratio of financial institutions and implement targeted measures for targeted reduction. The People's Bank of China decided to reduce the deposit reserve ratio of financial institutions by 0.5 percentage point from February 5, 2015.

4 The CEC recently stated that the amount of thermal power generated in 2014 decreased for the first time, and the average utilization hours of thermal power equipment was the lowest since 1978. Under the pressure of environmental protection, the amount of thermal power generation is gradually decreasing. In contrast, hydropower was swift and violent in 2014, generating a record high.

[Charges News Highlights]

1 At the 2015 China Iron Ore Conference held on February 5, Li Xinchuang, deputy secretary-general of the China Iron and Steel Association (hereinafter referred to as “China Steel Association”) stated that China’s iron ore import volume may increase by 7.1% this year. One billion tons, of which the major supplier countries Australia and Brazil will account for more than 80%.

2 Since January of this year, the price of thermal coal in the Bohai Rim has dropped for 5 consecutive weeks. On February 4, the latest issue of the Bohai Dynamic Coal Price Index issued by Qinhuangdao Maritime Coal Trading Market showed that the comprehensive average price of 5,500 kcal thermal coal closed at RMB 510/ton, a decrease of RMB 1 from the previous reporting period. Ton.

Market Perspective and Forecast

Today, the overall stability of the steel pipe market has shown signs of stability, business prices are basically stable, no change in transaction status; now downstream demand on-demand procurement, and in the city has not much, demand release is limited; and intermediate traders for The outlook for the market outlook is not very optimistic. There are not many stock picking operations. Only a small number of merchants have a small amount of purchase operations. As a result, the overall atmosphere of the market is relatively deserted; taking into account the cautious operation of businesses in the year before, there is little room for change in the market. The steel pipe market is steadily consolidated.