The supply of steel billets from steel companies' blast furnace restart is expected to rebound.

As control measures end, steel companies’ blast furnaces are gradually resuming production, and the supply of billets is expected to slightly increase. Downstream billet adjustment and steel rolling companies’ in-plant finished product inventories are decreasing. After the production restrictions are lifted, the resumption pace accelerates, leading to increased demand for billets, which is expected to recover to over 40k tons per day next week. Social inventories of billets are shifting toward in-plant inventories, and a turning point in social stocks may be emerging. The rise in raw material prices has driven up steel production costs, strengthening the support at the price bottom. Market sentiment is expected to further recover, with phase-wise upward momentum in prices, but vigilance is still needed regarding the pressure of destocking caused by high inventories. Overall, short-term prices are expected to rise slightly, with future focus on the resumption of production in downstream billet adjustment plants. (My Steel Network)