Bloomberg reported that Chinese steelmakers including Hebei Iron & Steel Group and Jiangsu Shagang Group Co joined their Japanese peers in raising prices after Premier Li Keqiang signaled China may support economic growth.
According to its website, Shagang, the nation’s biggest non state owned mill, raised steel wire prices on July 21 by as much as CNY 100 (USD 16) a metric tonne. It was the Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu province based steelmaker’s second increase this month. Hebei Steel, China’s biggest producer, raised some steel sheet prices by as much as CNY 100 for August delivery after cutting them a month earlier.
China, the world’s largest producer and consumer of steel, will seek to keep economic growth, employment and inflation within limits, avoiding “wide fluctuations,” Li said July 16. He said at a recent meeting with economists 7% is the “bottom line” and the nation can’t allow growth to fall below that, the Beijing News reported.
Source – Bloomberg