Eastern China’s Shagang has announced sharp reductions in its September steel prices, signalling no imminent recovery for spot prices and little support for iron ore. Shanghai steel futures prices fell further on Tuesday, Kallanish observes, while trade on GlobalORE remained tied to indices.

Shagang cut its September list price for 14-25mm HRB400 rebar by Yuan 100/tonne to Yuan 3,000/t ($487/t), while HRB500 rebar remained at a Yuan 150/t premium. 6.5mm HPB300 wire rod was down Yuan 110/t to Yuan 3,050/t.

The company also cut flat product prices with 5.5mm Q235 HRC down Yuan 160/t to Yuan 3,250/t and 4mm SPHC down Yuan 130/t to Yuan 3,310/t.

The cuts reflected the bleak mood in the market which also sent futures prices lower on Tuesday. The January 2015 rebar contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange was down Yuan 14/t to close at Yuan 2,910/t, while the same contract for hot rolled coil was down Yuan 32/t to Yuan 3,098/t.

On the GlobalORE iron ore trading platform two cargoes of Yandi fines were traded Tuesday. Both were settled against the Metal Bulletin 58% Fe index with no premium and were for October delivery cfr Qingdao. One cargo was 80,000 tonnes and one 100,000t. No further trades had been made by 17.00 Beijing time.