In March, China's crude steel output was 54.97 million tons, an increase of 22.5% over the same period of last year. The average daily output was 1.773 million tons, second only to 1.798 million tons in February, which was the second highest level in history. In March, the amount of completed urban fixed assets investment was 1,677.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 26%, and continued to grow steadily. The sales area of houses was 153.6 million square meters, a substantial increase of 149% year-on-year. The newly-started area of real estate was 323 million square meters, an increase of 248% year-on-year and an increase of 117% compared with the previous period. Demand for home appliances and automobiles is still booming, with 1.73 million vehicles produced in March, a year-on-year increase of 58%, a record high. Appliances increased by 19% year-on-year. Steel exports rebounded sharply and exports increased by 840,000 tons to 3.33 million tons.
The price of Cold Rolled Steel Strip soared in March, and steel prices rose. Threads and wire rods rose by more than 10%. The hot-rolled and medium-plate prices in the plate varieties rose slightly, but the overall increase was lower than that of long products. Significant signs of strong long products. In other varieties, the increase in welded pipe was 9.4%. Stainless steel and bearing steel rose by 5.3% and 6.7% respectively. The spring steel rose the smallest, only 2.9%. Silicon Steel prices soared 35.8%, mainly concentrated in the early April pull-up. It is recommended to pay attention to ferrosilicon production company Erdos. Although the stainless steel price spread has slightly decreased compared with the previous month, it still rose by more than 10% from 2009.
Significant increase in downstream demand and continuous reduction in inventory From the perspective of leading indicators of downstream demand, steel consumption will enter the peak season after May. Cold Rolled Oriented Electrical Steel is expected to benefit from this trend as well. We believe that the arrival of the downstream demand season is enough to support the current steel prices. The risk of a sharp drop is minimal. September is most likely another peak season for consumption.
