Recently, China’s government lowered even removed the tariff on exported steel products. Particularly, the tariff on HRC and medium plate were both down from 5% to zero.

It seems as positive news to the current bleak market, but performance of HRC and medium-plate proved differently. From November 13, the price of HRC nationwide rebounded by CNY 62 per tonne (USD 9 per tonne) in just two days while the price of medium plate dropped by CNY 34 per tonne (USD 5 per tonne)

As per report especially in Shanghai, the weathercock of the domestic steel market, the price of HRC was up by CNY 135 per tonne (USD 20 per tonne) while the price of medium plate was down by CNY 50 per tonne (USD 7 per tonne)

Analysts reckoned that the rapid rebound of HRC price owes to the government’s policy on tax cut and relief of surplus inventory. However, as for the medium-plate, most customers are still pessimistic.