Steel Approaches Multi-Month Highs in Commodity News 23/03/2026 Steel rebar futures climbed above CNY 3,150 per ton, nearing their highest levels since August last year as China moved to curb overcapacity amid weak demand. Higher raw material costs, driven by rising ocean freight rates and elevated energy prices from the Iran war, have also squeezed steel mill margins, prompting production cuts. Recent data showed Chinese steel output fell 3.6% to about 160 million tons in the first two months of the year, reflecting both a seasonal slowdown tied to the Lunar New Year holiday and pollution controls ahead of March’s annual legislative meetings. China’s steel sector remains in structural decline as the economy matures, leading to weaker construction activity, further exacerbated by the prolonged property crisis. The country’s steel output dropped below 1 billion tons last year for the first time since 2019. Source: Trading Economics 2026-03-23 hellenicshippingnews... window.___gcfg = {lang: 'en-US'}; (function(w, d, s) { function go(){ var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0], load = function(url, id) { if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;} js = d.createElement(s); js.src = url; js.id = id; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }; load('//connect.facebook.net/en/all.js#xfbml=1', 'fbjssdk'); load('https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js', 'gplus1js'); load('//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js', 'tweetjs'); } if (w.addEventListener) { w.addEventListener("load", go, false); } else if (w.attachEvent) { w.attachEvent("onload",go); } }(window, document, 'script')); tweet Share