Chinese steel producer Baosteel issued its flat steel prices for May delivery on April 10, keeping its HDG prices unchanged from April levels.
Market participants have told SteelOrbis that HDG demand from downstream users has not seen any significant improvement, while demand from traders is at normal levels. Currently, the cost of buying HDG supplies from major domestic steelmakers with delivery to the Shanghai market is at around RMB 4,900/mt ($783/mt), indicating that traders are hardly able to make a profit. Baosteel has kept prices for May delivery unchanged, as opposed to raising its prices, in order to maintain its sales volumes. However, some insiders at Chinese steel mills have said that Baosteel's May price policy may result in a decreasing trend for domestic HDG market prices in the future due to lack of support from costs.
Overall, it is thought that HDG prices in the Chinese domestic market will likely move down in the coming week.