According to market sources, Chilean traders have been active sourcing material from China in the past week; this is expected to continue this week as opportunities for transactions will become limited during the upcoming Chinese New Year Holiday. While the official holiday is January 27-February 2, 2017, sources note that selling activity is slowing down, which is firming offer prices for those seeking material.
For the week ended January 13, import offers from China to Chile for flat rolled steel products were reported as follows: hot rolled coil (HRC) at $525-535/mt CFR, cold rolled coil (CRC) at $600-615/mt CFR, and hot dipped galvanized coil (HDG) at $635-645/mt CFR.
While prices softened through the week of January 13, CRC and HDG offer prices have been noted as moving upward through last week, and into the current week. Offers from China to Chile for commercial-grade February shipments are reported as follows: HRC at $525-535/mt CFR, CRC at $620-625/mt CFR, and HDG at $645-655/mt CFR.
These prices reflect a “no change” status on HRC but a notable increase for CRC and HDG. CRC increased by $20/mt at the bottom of the range and $10/mt at the bottom of the range while HDG offers increased by $10/mt.