During the week ending April 22, hot rolled coil (HRC) prices in the Chinese domestic market have switched from upward movement to a downtrend, while transaction activity is still at low levels. Average HRC prices in the local Chinese market can be viewed in the SteelOrbis price reports section.
In the given week, HRC futures prices at Shanghai Futures Exchange have indicated an overall decreasing trend, affecting sentiment among traders in the domestic HRC spot market. Meanwhile, the purchasing activity of downstream users has remained at poor levels, exerting a negative impact on HRC prices in the domestic market. In addition, traders have sought to accelerate their sales in order to bring in funds. However, some traders consider that HRC prices have now declined to the low levels they were at a few weeks ago and may not decrease much further. It is thought that HRC prices in the Chinese domestic market will fluctuate within a narrow range at around the current low levels in the coming week.