Angang announces price hike

Angang announces price hike

China's Liaoning province based Angang Steel announced its pricing policy for March yesterday. According to the announcement, hot rolled coil price went up by RMB 230/mt ($29). The ex-factory price of 3.5 mm Q235B reached RMB 2,680/mt ($333), and that of 5.5 mm Q235B reached RMB 2,650/mt ($329). Furthermore, the subsidy for freight in East and South China has been reduced to RMB 50/mt ($6) instead of RMB100/mt ($12), and that in North China has been abolished. Cold rolled prices went up by RMB 380/mt ($47). Now the ex-factory price of ST12 1.0 mm is RMB 3,740/mt ($464). Taxes are excluded from the prices. Adding to the impact of Wuhan Steel, Angang's price adjustment further boosted the market prices. At present, traders are confident regarding the future of the market and they are not in a hurry to make sales. Therefore, in Shanghai offers for 5.5 mm Q235B went up by RMB 90/mt ($11) to RMB 3,120/mt ($387). On the CR side, the market prices went up dramatically after the holidays. Currently, after the adjustment, the ex-factory prices are equal to market prices. In the market, CR prices did not change obviously upon the new pricing policies.