Shanghai steel futures broke the CNY 5000 per tonne mark, the highest since late October, amid limited supply, rising iron ore and nickel prices, and prospects of a boom in demand. Production in China is likely to be constrained in the first quarter due to factories maintenance, the Lunar New Year holidays, and efforts by the government to limit pollution during the Beijing Winter Olympics. At the same time, prices of steelmaking ingredients nickel and iron ore remain elevated, with possible supply disruptions in top iron ore exporter Australia due to a surge in coronavirus cases. Meanwhile, there are prospects demand in China will increase in the second quarter of the year as the construction and infrastructure sectors pick up and the Chinese authorities adopt stimulus measures to shore up the economy.
Historically, Steel reached an all time high of 6198 in May of 2021. Steel - data, forecasts, historical chart - was last updated on January of 2022.
Steel is expected to trade at 4621.24 Yuan/MT by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate it to trade at 4307.10 in 12 months time.