SteelOrbis Shanghai
Influenced by
Baosteel's new prices, hot rolled product prices increased, while cold rolled product prices slightly decreased in
China. The trade volume increased, the market inventory decreased and traders became gradually confident about the market.
On August 28, the average price of 5.75 mm x 1,500 mm x C SS400 hot rolled coil in Tianjin, Shanghai and Lecong was up RMB 53/mt ($6) week on week at RMB 3,590/mt ($450), that of 2.75 mm x 1,250 mm x C Q235B hot rolled coil was up RMB 27/mt ($3) at RMB 4,140/mt ($519). The average price of imported 2.0 mm x 1,250 mm x C 08YU hot rolled coil retained RMB 4,220/mt ($530) level.
The average price of 1.0 mm x 1,250 mm x 2,500 mm ST12 cold rolled sheet decreased RMB 20/mt ($6) week on week to RMB 4,713/mt ($595), and that of 1.0 mm x 1,250 mm x C ST12 decreased RMB 13/mt ($5) to RMB 4,667/mt ($588). The average price of imported 0.6 mm x 1,250 mm x C 08YU remained unchanged at RMB 5,050/mt ($634).
On August 22,
Baosteel announced the price list for Q4. The prices of SPHC hot rolled coil and SPCC cold rolled coil decreased around RMB 200/mt ($25), while the prices of other flat rolled products remained unchanged. Generally speaking, this price adjustment is in accordance with the market expectations. Despite the decrease, the new prices are much higher than the current market prices. Therefore, market players regarded the price list as good news and prices in leading markets such as Shanghai and Lecong increased one after the other.
Because of the sharp drop in July and August, the traders suffered a big loss. Therefore, they eagerly hoped the steel mills to give them a subsidy in order to cover a part of their losses. The increase in the end of August may be restrained by this factor by a certain extend. Because, the traders worry that the subsidies given by the steel mills may lessen if the market prices rise. Late August is a period for steel mills to adjust prices. Besides
Baosteel; Anshan New Steel, Tangshan Steel, Magang,
Baotou Steel, Taiyuan Steel and many other steel mills also determined the settled price for August and announced their prices for the September orders. Steel mills price announcements are expected to raise the market prices slightly. As a matter of fact, when Tangshan Steel published its price list on August 28, Tianjin market began to see increase, which demonstrated the market situation to a certain extent. More mills are expected to announce price lists in the beginning of September; therefore, the prices have not showed an overall upward trend. It is thought that, hot rolled coil prices will increase steadily and cold rolled coil prices will be stable throughout week 35.
The latest figures released by Customs indicated that
China exported 800,000 metric tons, and imported 155,000 metric tons of hot rolled coils in July. Total supply including domestic
production and imports except exports in July reached 5.06 million metric tons. The cumulative exports from January to July increased 53 percent year on year to 4.62 million metric tons. The cumulative imports decreased 48 percent to 1.13 million metric tons. The cumulative domestic
production and imports except exports reached 33.59 million metric tons.
In July,
China exported 99,000 metric tons cold rolled coils and imported 327,000 metric tons. The domestic
production and imports except exports reached 2.38 million metric tons. The cumulative exports from January to July increased 112 percent year-on-year to 800,000 metric tons. The cumulative imports decreased 42 percent to 2.385 million metric tons. The cumulative domestic supply plus imports except exports totaled 15.18 million metric tons.
According to the above figures, we see that Chinese hot rolled coil exports are much bigger than imports, but exports of cold rolled coils are still lower than imports. Overall, while maintaining the huge amount of exports,
China is also importing a lot. With the improvement in
production technology of steel mills,
China's demand for hot and cold rolled for re-processing, such as galvanizing and plating will increase.