About Steel: This Monday to Tuesday (March 4-5), the domestic steel prices declined mainly, and the market transactions were relatively thin. On March 5, SteelHome's benchmark steel price index was 4405 yuan/ton, declined by 33 yuan/ton compared to March 1. Among them, the price index of long steel was 3975 yuan/ton, down by 46 yuan/ton; the price index of flat steel was 4200 yuan/ton, down by 30 yuan/ton; The price index of rebar was 3892 yuan/ton, down by 55 yuan/ton; The price index of medium and heavy plate was 4125 yuan/ton, down by 19 yuan/ton; The price index of hot-rolled coil was 4065 yuan/ton, down by 35 yuan/ton; The price index of cold-rolled coil was 4764 yuan/ton, down by 22 yuan/ton.

In terms of stainless steel, the price index of stainless steel was 12872 yuan/ton, up by 27 yuan/ton compared to March 1. Among them, the price index of 300 series stainless steel was 16836 yuan/ton, down by 53 yuan/ton; The price index of 200 series stainless steel was 9760 yuan/ton, down by 1 yuan/ton; and the price index of 400 series stainless steel was 8344 yuan/ton, being flat.

About raw materials: This Monday to Tuesday, the domestic prices of metallurgical coke were mainly stable, the prices of coking coal and PCI decreased in some markets.

On March 5, SteelHome's import price index of 62% iron ore was $116.03/ton, up by $0.97/ton from March 1, and the price of 61.5% PB fine in Qingdao Port up by 5 yuan/ton to be 905 yuan/ton. Steel mill manly purchased iron ore according to actual demands. SteelHome’s price index of ordinary carbon billet was 3545 yuan/ton, down by 35 yuan/ton. The Ex-work price of ordinary carbon billet in the Qian'an area of Tangshan dropped by 20 yuan to 3500 yuan/ton, and the spot price dropped by 20 yuan to 3560-3570 yuan/ton. SteelHome’s price index of HMS was 3035 yuan/ton, down by 17 yuan/ton.

About Ferrous Futures: Futures price from Monday to Tuesday: HRC fell by 0.8%, rebar fell by more than 1%, stainless steel fell by 1.3%, iron ore rose by 0.92%, coke fell by 1.48%, coking coal fell by 2.27%, silicon manganese fell by more than 1%, and ferro-silicon fell by 0.8%.

About Macro: The Second Session of the 14th National People's Congress opened on the morning of March 5th at the Great Hall of the People, and Premier Li Qiang delivered a government work report to the conference. The expected target for China's GDP growth in 2024 is around 5%; The increase in consumer prices for residents is about 3%; The plan is to arrange local government special bonds of 3.9 trillion yuan, an increase of 100 billion yuan from 2023.

About Industry: According to statistics from the China Steel Association, the daily average production of crude steel, pig iron, and finished steel by member steel enterprises participating in the statistics in late February was 2.13 million tons, 1.878 million tons, and 2.065 million tons, respectively, with a month on month increase of 1.39%, a decrease of 1.42%, and a growth of 4.03%, and a year-on-year decrease of 4.06%, 6.23%, and 8.62%, respectively.

Table 1: Change of steel prices in main domestic markets (yuan/ton)

Source: SteelHome