Over the past week China's domestic pre-painted galvanized iron prices have continued to fall. For example, the price of CGCC 0.476 mm x 1,000 mm x C material produced by Wuxi NewDaZhong has decreased to RMB 5,300/mt, down from RMB 5,350/mt last Friday.
In the first week following China's National Day holiday (which took place on October 1-8), Baosteel sharply decreased its ex-works of PPGI, which exerted a strong negative impact on traders' confidence. Subsequently, other leading mills followed Baosteel's example. Meanwhile, the prices of HR and rebar have seen some decline in the local Chinese market in the first week after the holiday. In addition, inventories accumulated to some extent during the long holiday period. In this context, local PPGI prices also declined. The transaction situation is currently not so good as most traders have been maintaining a wait-and-see policy. Towards the end of this week, HR and rebar prices in China have started to move on a stable trend and may soon see a rebound. As a result, it is very likely that in the coming week the declining trend of local PPGI prices will come to a halt.
As for the domestic mills, Baosteel this week issued its PPGI ex-works prices for November, decreasing its prices by RMB 400/mt ($58/mt) compared to its ex-works price for October. WISCO this week issued its PPGI prices for November, keeping them unchanged from its October levels. Also this week, Ansteel issued its PPGI ex-works prices for November, reducing its prices by RMB 200/mt ($29/mt) compared to its ex-works price for October. As a result, this producer's price of 0.5 mm TDX51D+Z stands at RMB 5,100/mt ($747/mt), excluding 17 percent VAT.
While China's domestic PPGI prices have this week continued to decline, next week a more stable movement is likely to be seen as the declining trend in the overall finished steel market seems to be coming to a halt.