During the week ending September 16, hot rolled coil (HRC) prices in the Chinese domestic market have seen a slowdown in their decreasing trend, while transaction activity has indicated some improvement compared to the previous week and is now at decent levels. Average HRC prices in the local Chinese market can be viewed in the SteelOrbis price reports section.
During the given week, due to significant rises seen in HRC futures prices and in semi-finished steel prices in Tangshan, there has been a slowdown in the decline of HRC prices in the domestic spot market, while transaction activity has witnessed some improvement. With the approach of China's National Day holiday at the start of October, some traders are beginning to adopt a more cautious approach. At the same time, many traders may come under pressure to pay off debts to banks as the end of the third quarter approaches. It is expected that HRC prices in the Chinese domestic market will move on a slight uptrend in the coming week following the decreases already seen in prices in previous weeks.