Will steel prices continue to rise in April

Overall, the steel supply side will be suppressed by policies in the medium term, but there is still a risk of periodic recovery in the short term. On the demand side, the growth rate of real estate infrastructure investment is expected to remain resilient in the first half of the year. The short-term performance of manufacturing industry is slightly lower than expected, but it is more likely to continue to strengthen in the later period. The demand persistence in April may be the key to determine the trend of steel prices, and the overall upward trend of steel prices is more likely to continue.

From the perspective of raw materials, the fundamentals of iron ore show a marginal weakening trend. On the one hand, after the second quarter, the delivery volume of foreign mines gradually picked up, and under the stimulation of high profits, the overall supply speed of foreign mines showed a rising trend. On the other hand, under the background of reducing crude steel output, the medium-term demand of ore will be restrained. The recent continuous recovery of ore port inventory is also a confirmation of the weakening of its fundamentals. But in the short term, there are also some positive factors, mainly the repair of domestic steel profits and the gradual resumption of overseas blast furnace production.