Color coated coil price remains steady

SteelOrbis Shanghai This week did not see any change in the market price of color coated coil. There was no increase in the market trading volume, while the market inventories of color coated coil decreased slightly. Meanwhile, Masteel made an upward adjustment to its ex-factory prices for January 2007. On December 22, the average market price of 0.476 mm color coated coil was RMB 6,687/mt ($856/mt), that of 0.4 mm color coated coil was RMB 7,117/mt ($911/mt), while the price of 0.286 mm Yieh Phui imported color coated coils was RMB 8,000/mt ($1,014/mt). All the above prices are unchanged compared with last week. This week was the tenth successive week that the color coated coil market price maintained its steady trend. Neither customer demand nor the market trading volume saw any big change. Market inventories declined slightly compared with last week, while supply and demand were balanced in the overall market. Because of the reduced quantities of available HDG supplies in the domestic market, the color coated coil market inventories have been at a low level for a long time now. Looking to the future, the market price of color coated coil is expected to remain stable if the current balanced relationship between supply and demand is not broken. Finally, the new ex-factory price of Masteel color coated coil for January 2007 saw an increase of RMB 94/mt ($12/mt) compared with the December level.