It is reported that at the heels of Baosteel's price cut of some steel varieties for Q4, a host of other domestic manufacturers followed suit and roughly pulled down the prices by CNY 200 per tonne.

    According to steelmakers, Shougang's medium plate with shipbuilding plate as an exception is cut by CNY 200 per tonne from August offer, Bayi Steel's HRC is reduced by CNY 300 per ton tonne, rebar and wire rod by CNY 300 per tonne and CRC by CNY 300 per tonne while Baotou Steel's HRC, CRC, CR full hard and galvanized steel are all lowered by CNY 200 per tonne.

    According to the monitoring of the Ministry of Commerce, China steel prices averaged CNY 6284 per tonne in July down by 0.4% from June the average price came to CNY 6124 per tonne further down by 2.2%. Wire rod, flats, pipe/tube and sections all reported declines.

    According to some industry analysts, Baosteel's prices which had risen for the first three quarters prove much higher than the market price, as it started to go down from mid June justifying the recent adjustments. The steelmakers' moves are predictable. They noted that in response to the demand recovery after the Olympics, steel supply would see an expansion in September. Further considering the traders' profit seeking psychology, the steel prices may see a round of upswings till end of the month.