As soon as ex-China hot rolled coil (HRC) offers started to decline, Pakistani buyers resumed negotiations for new contracts. Moreover, a few Pakistani buyers have decided not to delay and booked small lots of material, although prices are expected to fall much further.
Accordingly, SteelOrbis has learned of a few bookings of ex-China SAE1006 HRC for a total 10,000 mt concluded at the end of last week at $930-950/mt CFR Karachi, for June shipment. Prior to these deals, a Pakistan-based re-roller purchased about 5,000 mt of ex-China HRC at $960/mt CFR Karachi.
Meanwhile, suppliers from Japan, South Korea and Taiwan have not been in a hurry to cut their prices so far and are still offering at $1,100/mt CFR Karachi.