During the week ending July 22, prices in the Chinese domestic cold rolled coil (CRC) market have continued their declining trend at a slower pace, while transaction activity in the overall market has been better than previous week but is still at low levels. Average CRC prices in the local Chinese market are presented in the table below.
During the given week, although semi-finished steel and hot rolled coil (HRC) prices have increased, CRC prices have failed to move upwards. Traders state that transaction activity in the market has improved slightly compared to the previous week but is still at low levels. Since downstream users have showed little interest to purchasing activities, traders have been forced to lower their prices to stimulate sales. However this strategy has resulted in a price-based competition. Meanwhile, Chinese steelmaker Wuhan Iron and Steel (WISCO) has issued its ex-works prices for August shipment, reducing its CRC prices by RMB 80/mt ($13/mt), which will exert a negative impact on CRC spot market. However, considering the improvement recorded in HRC and raw materials prices, it is expected that CRC prices in the Chinese domestic market will likely indicate a stable trend, or at least decline at a slower pace in the coming week.
Product name | Spec. | Category | City | Steel plant/origin | Price (RMB/mt) | Price ($/mt) | Weekly change (RMB/mt) |
Thin CRC | 1.0 mm x 1,250 mm x C | ST12 | Shanghai | MaSteel | 2,660 | 428 | ↓50 |
Tianjin | Tangshan Steel | 2,480 | 399 | 0 | |||
Lecong | MaSteel | 2,650 | 427 | 0 | |||
Average | - | 2,597 | 418 | ↓17 | |||
Thin CRS | 1.0 mm x 1,250mm x 2,500 mm | ST12 | Shanghai | Anshan Steel | 2,630 | 424 | ↓110 |
Tianjin | Anshan Steel | 2,840 | 457 | 0 | |||
Lecong | Anshan Steel | 2,670 | 430 | ↓30 | |||
Average | - | 2,713 | 437 | ↓47 |
All prices are ex-warehouse and include 17 percent VAT.
$1 = RMB 6.21