Steel Declines from 2-Week High

Steel rebar futures fell to CNY 3,100 per tonne from the two-week high of CNY 3,130 on September 16th amid lower iron ore prices and downside risks on demand. The property crisis in top steel consumer China continued to prevent significant demand growth for rebar. Housing prices fell 3% annually in August as existing home sales took the majority of home sales in the country on a year-to-date basis, reflecting the government's effort to cap the oversupply of residential properties. The developments limit steel buying from major developers in the country, among the main buyers of rebar in the world. Consistently, the official construction PMI in China feel to a record low of 46.9. Elsewhere, a group of trade finance firms accused trader Radiant World of fraudulent documents to back receivables, driving ore prices to fall sharply as trade finance liquidity dried.