During the week ending August 23, average hot rolled coil (HRC) prices in the Chinese domestic market have continued to move up, while transaction activity in the overall market has been at decent levels. Average HRC prices in the local Chinese market are presented in the following table.
During the given week, demand from downstream users has been better than in the previous week, boosting sentiment among traders and causing many of them to wait for a better price, though some traders choose to sell at current price levels to bring in cash and ease financial tightness coming towards the end of the month.
Meanwhile, some domestic steelmakers, including Baosteel and Baogang, plan to carry out maintenance work on their HRC production lines in September, which will reduce supply of HRC in the coming month and boost the positive sentiment as regards the prospects for the domestic HRC price trend. At the same time, the traditional peak season for business in September is approaching and so demand is expected to improve. It is thought that HRC prices in the Chinese domestic market will continue to move up in the coming week.
| Product Name | Spec. | Category | City | Steel Plant/Origin | Price (RMB/mt) | Price ($/mt) | Weekly Change (RMB/mt) |
| Medium HRC | 5.75 mm x 1,500 mm x C | Q235B/SS400 | Shanghai | Tangshan Steel | 2,820 | 425 | ↑70 |
| Tianjin | Tangshan Steel | 2,850 | 429 | ↑130 | |||
| Lecong | Liuzhou Steel | 2,960 | 446 | ↑110 | |||
| Average | - | 2,877 | 433 | ↑104 | |||
| Thin HRC | 2.75 mm x 1.,250 mm x C | Q235B | Shanghai | Tangshan Steel | 2,780 | 419 | ↑10 |
| Tianjin | Tangshan Steel | 2,900 | 437 | ↑150 | |||
| Lecong | Lianyuan Steel | 3,030 | 456 | ↑150 | |||
| Average | - | 2,904 | 437 | ↑104 |
17 percent VAT is included in all prices and all prices are ex-warehouse.
$1 = RMB 6.64