Halt in HR price decline supports GI in China

SteelOrbis Shanghai This week, the market price of galvanized coil began to enter a stable trend, with just a slight decrease registered. The trading volume and market inventories did not change much. In addition, some steel mills released new ex-factory prices. On November 23, the average market price of 1.0 mm galvanized coil is unchanged from the previous week at RMB 5,657/mt ($721), while that of 0.5 mm galvanized coil is RMB 5,950/mt ($756), down RMB 33/mt ($4) compared with the price last weekend. Meanwhile the average price of 0.23 mm galvanized coil imported from Indian Bhushan company is unchanged at RMB 7,200/mt ($913). This week, though the GI market price in some domestic regional markets was down a little, the market price of galvanized coil remained stable on the whole. The trading volume and market inventories of galvanized coil remained unchanged. Due to the bad weather this week, the market demand for galvanized coil did not take any turn for the better. Nevertheless, the steadiness of the CR and HR market prices was good news for the GI market price. On the other hand, the market inventories of GI were still at low level. As a result, it is thought that there is little possibility of a strong decrease in the GI market price. Meanwhile, the new ex-factory price of Baosteel GI remained unchanged, that of Masteel decreased RMB 234/mt ($30), while that of Tangshan Hengtong decreased RMB 150/mt ($19). Though some steel mills decreased their ex-factory GI price, the stability of Baosteel's ex-factory GI price played a very important role in the steadiness of the whole GI market. This week, influenced by the great decline of Zinc prices in the international market, the Zinc price in domestic market also declined considerably: down RMB 1,500/mt ($191) to RMB 35,000/mt ($4,459). Such a drop does not favor the stability of the GI market price in the future.