Color coated coil price may retain steadiness into the future

Last week, the market price of color coated coil was still in a quiet trend. The market trading volume and market inventories of color coated coil remained unchanged compared with the previous week. The Chinese authorities released the November production data for color coated coil during the week, while Benxi Steel released its Q1 2007 ex-factory prices. On December 15, the average market price of 0.476 mm color coated coil was RMB 6,687/mt ($856/mt), down RMB 10/mt ($1/mt) compared with the week before; that of 0.4 mm color coated coil was RMB 7,117/mt ($911/mt), up RMB 7/mt ($1/mt) compared with the previous week. Meanwhile, the average market price of 0.286 mm color coated coils imported from Taiwanese Yieh Phui was unchanged at RMB 8,000/mt ($1,014/mt). During the week gone by, the market price of color coated coil remained quiet. Customer demand did not improve while the market trading volume also remained at a low level. However, the low level of product supplies in the market helped the color coated coil price to maintain its stable tendency. Meanwhile, steel mills still focused on exports and so the supply from the mills to the domestic market continued at a low level. As a result, the market price of color coated coil during the coming week is also expected to remain stable. Also during the past week, the new ex-factory prices which were released by Benxi Steel were unchanged from their previous levels. On the whole, the color coated coil market maintained a situation of balanced supply and demand balance against a background of low level trading volume. The Chinese authorities last week released the November production data for color coated. According to the new figures, the total color coated coil production of China's steel mills in November was 203,900 metric tons, up 17,300 metric tons compared with October.