On January 21, the domestic steel market rose slightly, and the ex-factory price of Tangshan billets was stable at 4,440 yuan/ton. In terms of transactions, the market has a strong festive atmosphere, some businesses have closed the market, downstream terminals have been shut down one after another, and workers have returned home from vacation, and the overall market demand is sluggish.

On the 21st, the closing price ofthe futures snail rose 0.11% to 4711. DIF and DEA overlapped. The RSI three-line indicator was located at 58-72, running between the middle and upper rails of the Bollinger Band.

This week, Mysteel surveyed 247 steel mills whose blast furnace ironmaking capacity utilization rate was 81.08%, a month-on-month increase of 1.19%; the average operating rate of 71 independent electric arc furnace steel mills across the country was 29.02%, a month-on-month decrease of 9.93% and a year-on-year decrease of 7.14%.

This week, the capacity utilization rate and operating rate of independent electric arc furnaces continued to decline as a whole, and the changes between regions were relatively stable. Among them, except for some steel plants in Northeast and North China, which are in normal production and remain flat, most manufacturers in other regions have entered a state of shutdown and maintenance during the Spring Festival due to a sharp drop in demand at the end of the year and high production costs. Entering next week, the market has basically entered a state of shutdown, and some manufacturers that have not temporarily suspended production and maintenance will also enter a state of shutdown and maintenance. Therefore, it is expected that the capacity utilization rate and operating rate of electric arc furnaces may continue to decline next week.

Recently, there has been continuous positive policy news, and policy support such as fiscal and monetary investment has increased, which has boosted market confidence and driven the future to repair the basis. After the release of the good news, the pre-holiday market will return to calm. According to Mysteel’s survey of 237 mainstream traders, the trading volume of building materials on January 20 was only 47,700 tons, down 29.1% from the previous month. As downstream terminals are on holiday one after another, steel prices will fluctuate within a narrow range.