IMO one reason for the fall in IO price correlates with the new...

IMO one reason for the fall in IO price correlates with the new Rebar standards in China, mills were selling off old stock in time to meet the new standards.

On June 25, China’s State Administration for Market Regulation announced new national standards for GB 1499.1-2024 and GB 1499.2-2024 plain round bar and reinforced bar.

The standards, which are revisions to those announced in 2018 and will be implemented from September 25 2024.

The new regulations will shift standards from recommendatory to mandatory. They will also adjust standards of tolerance, smelting, properties, package and implement stricter requirements on rebar quality.

For example, the tolerance for rebar with diameters of 6-12mm is 5.5% in 2024 standards, compared with 6% in the 2018 version. The tolerance for rebar with diameter of 14-20mm is 4.5%, compared with 5% in the 2018 version. For rebar with diameters of 22-50mm tolerance will be 3.5%, compared with 4% in the 2028 version.

“After the revisions in 2018, many large-scaled rebar mills had already gradually improved their steelmaking technologies and added alloys to meet the [quality] standards,” a contact at the China Ferroalloy Association said. “This time, with stricter implementation of the standards, only some small mills need to catch up.”

An industry source added, “The biggest change is the mandatory implementation of the standards. [Aside from this,] there will be both opportunities and challenges to full-scale implementation of the new [rebar] standards.”