Even though domestic demand is still at a low level, hot rolled coil (HRC) mills that saw improved export trading activity last week and some movements in the scrap market continue to try keeping prices stable. As a result, spot market traders have also decided to maintain the hot rolled sheet (HRS) offers. Meanwhile, due to drastically decreased level of business activity, the majority of traders has decided to slightly lower their cold rolled sheets (CRS) prices.
“Business activities are quite sluggish and do not appear to be improving. In addition, yesterday the US and European PMI figures were released, and they were all negative. As a result, an unspoken recession exists, and there won't be a quick turnaround, which has a negative impact on the steel market as well,” a trader said to SteelOrbis.
By the end of the current week, the workable domestic hot rolled sheet prices have remained stable week on week at $690-710/mt ex-warehouse. Some medium-size traders are trying to offer $720/mt ex-warehouse, which they know is a higher level and not workable.
On the other hand, in the cold rolled sheet market, most traders are offering at around $780-800/mt ex-warehouse, versus $790-800/mt ex-warehouse seen last week. According to reports, bigger traders offering around $800/mt ex-warehouse, and other mid-sized and smaller traders are selling at around $780-790/mt ex-warehouse.