Ex-China CRC prices from mills have moved down slightly over the past two weeks given the falling prices for local CRC prices and HRC futures prices. However, tradable prices have remained relatively stable.
At present, export offers for CRC given by major Chinese mills are at around $650-660/mt FOB on average, for April shipment, moving down by $10/mt on average over the past week. Meanwhile, the tradable levels for ex-China CRC have been heard at $645-650/mt FOB, remaining at the same levels as two weeks ago. Besides, according to sources, only several deals have been reported at $650/mt FOB, while most Chinese traders have failed to attract firm bids from overseas buyers.
During the given week, CRC prices in the Chinese domestic market have seen slight declines amid decreasing HRC futures prices and the significant declines in iron ore futures prices, which have negatively impacted market confidence. At the same time, inventory of CRC has been at high levels, while demand from downstream users has remained slack due to the bad weather in China. Market participants are waiting for an improvement in demand in the near future.
Average domestic 1.0 mm cold rolled coil spot prices in China are at RMB 4,310/mt ($607/mt) ex-warehouse, decreasing by RMB 23/mt ($3.2/mt) compared to February 7, according to SteelOrbis’ information.
As of February 21, HRC futures at the Shanghai Futures Exchange are standing at RMB 3,916/mt ($551.5/mt), decreasing by RMB 52/mt ($7.3) or 1.3 percent since February 7, but stable compared to the previous trading day (February 20).
$1 = RMB 7.103