During the week ending May 8, the Chinese domestic cold rolled coil (CRC) market has remained on its downward trend. Average CRC prices in the local Chinese market can be viewed in the SteelOrbis price reports section.
Activity in the domestic CRC market has remained slack. In Shanghai, average total daily CRC shipments of large local traders are reportedly less than 300 mt. At the same time, traders are mostly pessimistic about the market. Steel production levels have been climbing against a background of weak demand. According to the data issued by the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA), in March this year CRC production in China reached an all-time record monthly high, totaling 5.9 million mt, up 26.3 percent month on month. On the other hand, the international steel market remains sluggish and so overseas demand for Chinese CRC materials is quite low. Meanwhile, at the end of April Thailand decided to implement trade protection measures on imports of ex-China carbon cold rolled coil, imposing an 11.76 percent antidumping tax on the mentioned products.
On the whole, it is expected that in the short term the Chinese cold rolled steel market will continue to move down. However, following the decreases already seen in the past three months, it is believed that there is now limited room for downward movement of local CRC prices.