During the past week, the Chinese cold rolled coil (CRC) market has rebounded slightly.
Product name |
Specification |
Category |
Average price (RMB/mt) |
Weekly change (RMB/mt) |
Price ($/mt) |
Weekly change ($/mt) |
1.0 mm x 1,250 mm x C |
SPCC |
5,547 |
+20 |
848 |
+3 |
|
CRS |
1.0 mm x 1,250 mm x 2,500 mm |
SPCC |
5,610 |
0 |
858 |
0 |
As of April 27, prices of ST12 1.0 mm × 1,250 mm × C CRC stand at RMB 5,520/mt ($844/mt), RMB 5,600/mt ($856/mt) and RMB 5,520/mt ($844/mt) respectively in the Shanghai, Tianjin and Lecong markets. In addition, prices of ST12 1.0 mm × 1,250 mm × 2,500 mm CRS stand at RMB 5,580/mt ($853/mt), RMB 5,700/mt ($872/mt) and RMB 5,550/mt ($849/mt) respectively in the Shanghai, Tianjin and Lecong markets. All the above prices include 17 percent VAT (US$1 = RMB 6.54).
Late last week, cold rolled product traders slightly raised their market prices. In the short term, there is still support for cold rolled coil prices in the Chinese market: firstly, mainstream domestic mills' ex-works prices for May shipments are higher than the current transaction prices in the market, apart from the prices of Liaoning-based Ansteel, which are slightly lower than the current spot prices. Secondly, due to power supply shortages, the outputs of high energy consumption industries in China, such as the steel industry, are expected to be negatively affected. This anticipated reduction in output may provide strong support for domestic steel prices.
However, in the meantime, transactions in the domestic cold rolled coil market have not been great following the slight increase in prices. Some traders have lowered their prices in order to boost their deliveries. Meanwhile, demand from the downstream market is poor. In addition, although China's exports of cold rolled products in March were up by 40 percent month on month, the volume was still only 150,000 mt. At the same time, China's cold rolled product import volume in March increased by 47 percent month on month.
On the inventory side, on April 22 aggregate inventory of cold rolled coils in China's main cities was 1,536,890 mt, up 16,650 mt week on week, with inventory of cold rolled products in the Shanghai market at 545,490 mt, increasing by 12,400 mt week on week.
It is expected that prices in China's cold rolled coil market will generally remain firm ahead of the Labor Day holiday.