# China Steel & Coal Price API: 50 Commodities Every 10 Days (`sinodata/china-commodity-prices`) Actor

Official Chinese wholesale prices of 50 key production materials from the National Bureau of Statistics, every ten days: rebar, hot-rolled coil, copper, aluminium, coal, coke, LNG, diesel, methanol, PVC, cement, glass, polysilicon, corn, soybean meal, urea and more. History back to 2022. No login.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/sinodata/china-commodity-prices.md
- **Developed by:** [SinoData](https://apify.com/sinodata) (community)
- **Categories:** Other
- **Security:** Limited permissions
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 88.9% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.90 / 1,000 prices

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## China Commodity Prices: Steel, Coal, Metals & Chemicals (NBS)

Get **official Chinese wholesale prices for 50 key production materials** as clean JSON, straight from the **National Bureau of Statistics of China (国家统计局, NBS)**, which surveys them across the country for every ten-day period. No login, no Chinese needed: every product has an English name.

| Group | Products |
|---|---|
| **Steel** | rebar, wire rod, medium plate, hot-rolled coil, seamless pipe, angle steel |
| **Non-ferrous metals** | copper, aluminium, lead, zinc |
| **Chemicals** | sulphuric acid, caustic soda, methanol, benzene, ethanol, polyethylene (LLDPE), polypropylene, acetic acid, butadiene rubber, polyester filament, lithium iron phosphate |
| **Oil and gas** | LNG, LPG, gasoline, diesel, paraffin wax |
| **Coal** | anthracite, Shanxi thermal coal, coking coal, metallurgical coke |
| **Building and solar materials** | cement, float glass, polysilicon |
| **Farm products** | rice, wheat, corn, cotton, live hogs, soybeans, soybean meal, peanuts, white sugar |
| **Farm inputs** | urea, phosphate and potash fertilizer, compound fertilizer, glyphosate |
| **Forest products** | natural rubber, wood pulp, corrugated paper |

Each price comes with the change from the previous ten-day period (in yuan and in %), the product specification (e.g. rebar Φ20mm HRB400E, thermal coal 5,500 kcal) and the unit.

### Use cases

- **Commodity and macro research**: track Chinese steel, coal and chemical prices, a leading indicator for construction, manufacturing and global commodity demand.
- **Procurement and supply chain**: benchmark what you pay for steel, copper, plastics, fertilizer or paper in China.
- **Trading and risk**: compare spot prices with futures, or watch input costs for an industry.
- **Dashboards**: schedule a run every ten days with **Only new releases** on and get each new release once.

### Example input

The latest release, all 50 products:

```json
{}
```

Steel and coal for the last six periods (about two months):

```json
{
  "latestPeriods": 6,
  "groups": ["ferrous", "coal"]
}
```

Copper and methanol since 2024: `{ "products": ["copper", "methanol"], "dateFrom": "2024-01-01" }`

### Output

```json
{
  "type": "commodityPrice",
  "period": "2026-10-2",
  "periodLabel": "2026年10月中旬",
  "periodStart": "2026-10-11",
  "periodEnd": "2026-10-20",
  "group": "黑色金属",
  "groupEnglish": "Ferrous metals",
  "product": "螺纹钢",
  "productEnglish": "Rebar",
  "spec": "Φ20mm，HRB400E",
  "priceCny": 3187.8,
  "unit": "CNY/tonne",
  "change": 11.9,
  "changePct": 0.4,
  "previousPeriod": "2026-09-3"
}
```

- `period` is the year, month and ten-day part: `-1` for days 1 to 10 (上旬), `-2` for days 11 to 20 (中旬), `-3` for the rest of the month (下旬).
- Prices are in yuan per tonne, except live hogs (yuan per kg).
- Specifications are kept as published (in Chinese), since they define exactly which grade is priced; a few have changed over the years.

### Release schedule

NBS publishes each period about three working days after it ends, so a new release appears around the 4th, 14th and 24th of each month.

### Pricing

**$0.001 per price.** One full release (50 prices) costs $0.05; a year of one product (36 periods) about $0.04.

### Notes and limits

- **History back to November 2021.** Older periods are found by walking the NBS release list, so a long range takes a minute or two to start.
- Official figures as published by NBS; this Actor does not calculate any prices.
- Only public data is collected.

### Related

- [China Fuel Prices by Province](https://apify.com/sinodata/china-fuel-prices), [Shanghai Gold Exchange Prices](https://apify.com/sinodata/shanghai-gold-prices) and [China Shipping & Freight Indexes](https://apify.com/sinodata/china-shipping-indexes).

### 中文说明

国家统计局“流通领域重要生产资料市场价格变动情况”：螺纹钢、热轧卷板、电解铜、铝锭、煤炭、焦炭、液化天然气、甲醇、水泥、玻璃、多晶硅、玉米、豆粕、尿素等 50 种产品，每旬发布一次，含与上期相比的涨跌和涨跌幅，可取最新一期或 2021 年 11 月以来的历史。按结果计费，可在 Apify 上直接运行或通过 API 调用，也可设置定时任务。有问题或需要新字段，请在 Issues 页面留言（中文、英文均可）。

### Feedback

Need another product or field? Open an issue on the Issues tab.

# Actor input Schema

## `latestPeriods` (type: `integer`):

How many of the most recent ten-day periods to get (1 = the latest release). Ignored when you set a date range.

## `dateFrom` (type: `string`):

Every ten-day period since this date (YYYY-MM-DD).

## `dateTo` (type: `string`):

End of the history range (YYYY-MM-DD). Leave empty for up to today.

## `groups` (type: `array`):

Only these groups. Leave empty for all 50 products.

## `products` (type: `array`):

Only products whose English or Chinese name contains one of these words, e.g. rebar, copper, coal, 甲醇.

## `skipUnchanged` (type: `boolean`):

For scheduled runs: skip (and don't pay for) periods you already saved in a previous run.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Not needed for normal use.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "latestPeriods": 1,
  "skipUnchanged": false,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `overview` (type: `string`):

No description

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("sinodata/china-commodity-prices").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("sinodata/china-commodity-prices").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{}' |
apify call sinodata/china-commodity-prices --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,sinodata/china-commodity-prices"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/rDdl6sDE7lTunDD5N/builds/JqEI6fsZhEPXHUWNj/openapi.json