Even though demand and trade have remained poor and have not improved in the past couple of weeks, traders in the flat steel spot market have not had much choice but to maintain their offers over the past week. The main reason for this persistence is the continued stability in the hot rolled coil (HRC) segment, which is still impacted by the rebound in import prices, mainly from China.
“Things are quite weak here because it is an earthquake zone and only certain businesses are active. While a price fall is unavoidable, HRC producers are attempting to prevent it and keep prices stable, but the market is under a lot of pressure,” a trader told SteelOrbis
However, in addition to other negative effects such as financial difficulties and concerns about currency depreciation, most traders are aware that prices cannot continue at these levels indefinitely, whereas some other traders are still trying to offer higher prices even if customers have not accepted these higher levels.
Over the past week, prices for domestic hot rolled sheets have remained stable at around $690-710/mt ex-warehouse. As previously said, a few traders continue to offer higher pricing, at about $730/mt ex-warehouse, which is impractical given the state of the market.
Prices in the cold rolled sheet market have also remained unchanged, with the majority of traders offering at $790-800/mt ex-warehouse.