During the week ending August 9, average hot rolled coil (HRC) prices in the Chinese domestic market have continued to move up, while transaction activity in the overall market has improved and is now at decent levels. Average HRC prices in the local Chinese market are presented in the following table.
During the given week, ferrous metals futures prices in China have moved on a sharp uptrend, providing support for domestic HRC spot prices. Meanwhile, bullish sentiment prevails in the HRC market and so downstream users have been more willing to make purchases, resulting in an improvement in transaction activities. At the same time, Chinese steelmakers will likely increase their HRC ex-works prices for September delivery, which will boost HRC market prices further. It is thought that HRC prices in the Chinese domestic market will likely move sideways in the coming week.
| Product Name | Spec. | Category | City | Steel Plant/Origin | Price (RMB/mt) | Price ($/mt) | Weekly Change (RMB/mt) |
| Medium HRC | 5.75 mm x 1,500 mm x C | Q235B/SS400 | Shanghai | Tangshan Steel | 2,720 | 408 | ↑40 |
| Tianjin | Tangshan Steel | 2,680 | 402 | ↑20 | |||
| Lecong | Liuzhou Steel | 2,820 | 423 | ↑70 | |||
| Average | - | 2,740 | 411 | ↑43 | |||
| Thin HRC | 2.75 mm x 1.,250 mm x C | Q235B | Shanghai | Tangshan Steel | 2,770 | 416 | ↑30 |
| Tianjin | Tangshan Steel | 2,730 | 410 | ↑30 | |||
| Lecong | Lianyuan Steel | 2,880 | 432 | ↑70 | |||
| Average | - | 2,794 | 420 | ↑44 |
17 percent VAT is included in all prices and all prices are ex-warehouse.
$1 = RMB 6.66