In December, the national billet market prices showed a trend of first rising and then falling. As of December 31, the ex-factory price of billet in Tangshan area was reported at 4290 yuan/ton, a month-on-month decrease of 20 yuan/ton, which was 480 yuan/ton higher than the same period last year. Jiangyin area (imported resources) reported 4,420 yuan/ton, up by 50 yuan/ton month-on-month. Looking back at the December market, the Tangshan area was under environmental control for most of the time. Frequent shutdowns of steel mills led to unstable billet supply, and downstream restrictions on billet demand hardly improved. Both supply and demand have been weak.

Billet prices in January are expected to fluctuate and tend to weaken. In the future, we will continue to pay attention to the impact of the implementation of the Winter Olympics policy and regional production restrictions on the pace of resumption of production.