Ex-China offer prices of cold rolled coil (CRC) have edged up slightly lately amid the rising trend in local CRC prices. Steelmakers managed to conclude contacts with foreign buyers in the past week, giving discounts to customers, and will wait for further market development after the coming holiday.
At present, export offers for CRC given by major Chinese mills are at $505-510/mt FOB for late August, moving up by $5/mt compared to June 17.
The deal price to Vietnam has been heard at $475-480/mt, FOB, while a contract to South America was signed at $488-490/mt FOB. Last week, the tradable value was not below $490/mt FOB.
At the same time, “The firm local CRC market has been more attractive than overseas markets to steelmakers,” said a trader. During the given week, supply of CRC has indicated some shortages, providing support for CRC prices in the local market. However, downstream users have been resisting the high prices of CRC due to slack demand amid rainy weather and floods in eastern and southern China. Inventory of CRC has been at relatively low levels.
Average domestic 1.0 mm cold rolled coil spot prices in China are at RMB 4,126/mt ($585/mt) ex-warehouse, up RMB 66/mt ($9.4/mt) compared to June 17, according to SteelOrbis’ information.
As of June 24, HRC futures at the Shanghai Futures Exchange are standing at RMB 3,604/mt ($511/mt), increasing by RMB 88/mt ($12.5/mt) or 2.5 percent since June 17.
$1 = RMB 7.0555