Steel price trends in Sep 2026
Steel price trends in September 2026
In September, the Lange Steel Network Steel Circulation PMI index was 49.8%, up 2.4 percentage points from the previous month, continuing to rise within the contraction range. Among the sub-indices, 9 of the 10 sub-indices constituting the Lange Steel Network Steel Circulation PMI rose and 1 fell. Among them, 9 indices rose, including sales volume, sales prices, total orders, procurement costs, arrival speed, financing environment, enterprise employment, trend judgment, and procurement willingness, while only the inventory level index declined.
Under the influence of multiple factors, the steel market fluctuated downward in September. In September, the domestic steel market saw a battle between bulls and bears. On the demand side, the peak season in September fell short of expectations, real estate new starts remained sluggish, the pace of infrastructure project implementation slowed, and manufacturing steel use as a whole remained relatively resilient, but internal structural divergence continued to intensify. On the supply side, steel mills faced greater loss pressure and proactively arranged maintenance, causing crude steel output to decline somewhat. Stabilizing growth policies boosted market expectations, but the actual recovery in demand was limited. Coupled with disturbances from the futures market, market sentiment remained cautious, and steel prices showed a volatile downward trend.
Looking ahead to October, the domestic steel market will enter the closing phase of the traditional "Silver October" peak season. In early October, supported by post-holiday resumption of work and rush orders, a small replenishment of inventories by end users, cost support from coking coal and coke, and expectations of crude steel output reduction policies, steel prices are expected to see a short-term modest rebound, with market sentiment recovering temporarily. However, this rebound is mainly driven by expectations, the actual increase in end-user demand is limited, and willingness to speculate and stockpile is weak, so the room for rebound is constrained. Entering the middle and latter part of the month, the market will gradually come under pressure and weaken. Temperatures in the north will drop sharply, civil engineering projects will gradually halt, and demand for construction steel will shrink rapidly. Real estate new starts will remain sluggish, infrastructure funding will arrive late, and it will be difficult to offset the demand gap, further suppressing steel prices. Overall, in October, the steel market will have cost and production reduction support on the downside and weak demand suppression on the upside, and the steel market may show a trend of rising first and then falling. (Source: Lange Steel)
