China's domestic HDG prices have continued their rising movement during the past week. For example, the price of SGCC 1.0 mm x 1,250 mm x C material produced by local steelmaker Angang has increased to RMB 5,450/mt, up from RMB 5,130/mt last Thursday.
This week some leading domestic mills in China continued to raise their ex-works prices sharply, thereby pushing up spot market prices. Besides the new prices issued by WISCO and Panhua Group this week, it is reported that Baosteel will also sharply raise its prices for September in the current week. Inventories are not high at present and so downstream purchasers have gradually come to accept the current high price levels. Despite the traditional low season at this time of year, current demand is not weak and the transaction situation is reasonable. Although there are still some traders who are not so optimistic about the market, the positive market trend seems set to continue at least in the short term. Due to the rapid uptrend of prices, some traders are inclined to hold on to their materials in the hope of making bigger profits at a later stage. Meanwhile, the increases seen in HR and CR prices are also helping to push up the prices of HDG.
With regard to the export situation, currently 1.0 mm thick HDG with 100g/m² zinc coating is being offered at $680-700/mt FOB China main ports. Offer prices are thought likely to increase further due to the strong increases in domestic spot prices.
As for the domestic mills, Panhua Group this week issued its HDG ex-works prices for August, raising prices by RMB 550-640/mt ($80-93/mt). As a result, this producer's price of 1.0 mm SGCC stands at RMB 5,730/mt ($838/mt), including 17 percent VAT. Also, WISCO this week raised its HDG ex-works prices for September by RMB 700/mt ($102/mt).
Based on the situation observed this week, China's domestic HDG prices are still on a rising track and may increase further in this booming period. The uptrend is expected to continue at least during the coming week.