Weekly Overview of the Steel Raw Materials Market

Last week, the raw materials market experienced slight fluctuations, with overall raw material costs for steel companies rising, leading to increased losses for some steel companies and more cautious raw material procurement. Iron ore prices fluctuated slightly upwards, but spot transactions decreased, and the overall market remained mainly characterized by minor fluctuations; the fourth round of coke price increases was implemented; coking coal prices remained stable with slight declines, but the decline was limited; in terms of ferroalloys, the prices of ordinary alloys continued to fall, while the prices of special alloys rose. During this period, the price changes of the main varieties were as follows:

            
Iron ore prices fluctuated slightly upwards
Last week, iron ore prices fluctuated slightly upwards.

The volume of spot transactions of iron ore at major ports continued to decline month-on-month, and steel companies remained in a wait-and-see mode regarding procurement. The arrival volume of iron ore at major ports decreased significantly, and the rate of inventory accumulation slowed down. Currently, the operating rate of blast furnaces in steel companies remains high, and the rigid demand for iron ore still exists, but the fundamentals are generally weak. It is understood that the imported iron ore market is expected to operate mainly with slight fluctuations in the near future.
Domestic metallurgical coke prices remained stable with slight increases
Last week, domestic metallurgical coke prices remained stable with slight increases.

Among them, the metallurgical coke markets in East China, North China, and Northeast China remained stable after the implementation of the fourth round of price increases on November 15th; the metallurgical coke prices of monthly-priced coke companies in Central and South China remained stable; the procurement prices of metallurgical coke for steel companies with ten-day pricing in Southwest China increased. Both supply and demand of metallurgical coke increased, with the capacity utilization rate of 200 independent coke companies rising by 1.54%, and the operating rate of blast furnaces in steel companies rising by 0.42%. The total coke inventory in the industrial chain (steel companies, coke companies, ports) increased by 47,000 tons, with the number of days of available coke inventory remaining unchanged for 80 steel companies. Currently, there is no significant supply-demand imbalance in the metallurgical coke market, and the short-term market is mostly stable. It is expected that the domestic metallurgical coke market will operate relatively stably in the near future.
Coking coal prices remained stable with slight declines
Last week, offline coking coal prices remained stable with slight declines, and the number of unsuccessful online auctions increased.

Recently, coking coal futures have continued to weaken, and online auction prices have fallen. Most market participants are pessimistic about the coking coal market in December, and some coke producers have slowed down their coking coal procurement pace, mainly focusing on purchasing on demand. Coal mines are mainly shipping normally, and some coal mines sensitive to market reactions have successively lowered coking coal prices by 30-50 yuan/ton. However, coal mines in major producing areas are mostly affected by safety inspections and environmental protection measures, limiting production, and there is no expectation of a significant drop in coal prices in the near future. Coking coal prices are expected to remain stable with slight declines in the near future.
Prices of various ferroalloy varieties fluctuate
Last week, prices of various ferroalloy varieties fluctuated, with overall declines in ordinary alloys and continued increases in special alloys.

Ferrosilicon prices fell slightly. The ferrosilicon market is expected to remain stable with slight fluctuations in the near future. Ferromanganese prices saw a wider decline. In terms of raw materials, port manganese ore prices remained generally stable, with a few increases of 0.2-0.3 yuan/ton; some factories in Yongzhou, Hunan, reported increased electricity prices in November. Ferromanganese manufacturers are currently generally operating at a loss. With the increasing number of tenders from steel companies, ferromanganese prices are expected to gradually stabilize in the near future.
In terms of raw materials, chromium ore spot prices fell, and the profits of high-carbon ferrochrome producers began to recover. Currently, the high-carbon ferrochrome retail market has slightly rebounded, and manufacturers are beginning to show reluctance to sell at low prices or are tentatively raising quotations. However, downstream stainless steel companies have production reduction plans for December, so the high-carbon ferrochrome market is expected to remain relatively stable in the near future.

The raw material market has limited room for price concessions. Supported by costs, vanadium alloy manufacturers maintain firm quotations, while downstream steel companies' profit margins are narrowing. Based on concerns about weakening demand, market sentiment is not strong, and traders are relatively cautious. Therefore, vanadium alloy prices are expected to remain stable in the near future. In terms of molybdenum alloys, 60 molybdenum iron prices rose first and then fell, with an overall increase. The steel molybdenum iron market continued its bottoming-out and rebound trend, and market participants had a strong willingness to maintain prices. However, large molybdenum mines on the raw material side offered price concessions, and molybdenum iron prices followed the raw material prices with a slight correction. Smelting manufacturers' profits recovered, and the molybdenum iron market is expected to remain stable to slightly weak in the near future.