During the week ending May 30, the Chinese cold rolled coil (CRC) market has continued its downward movement. Average CRC prices in the Chinese domestic market can be viewed in the SteelOrbis price reports section.
The purchase activities of traders in the past week have remained slack, while end-users are also adopting a wait-and-see stance and do not plan to start purchasing large tonnages in the short term. At the end of May, the market is under pressure from inventories and cash shortages, with these factors also contributing to the decrease in prices. On the bright side, market insiders think that prices will not fall much further given the high levels of production costs.
Reports have been circulating that the Chinese government will soon announce a batch of stimulus measures which would include boosting rural auto sales and encouraging purchases of household appliances. Such measures, if implemented, would accelerate the release of steel demand and boost confidence in the domestic CRC market.
On the whole, it is expected that the Chinese CRC market will maintain its declining trend in the coming seven days.