During the week ending April 7, average prices of pre-painted galvanized iron (PPGI) in the Chinese domestic market have edged down, though transaction activity in the domestic market has been at low-to-medium levels.
Offer prices of ex-China PPGI have been heard between $825-835/mt, moving down by $10/mt compared to last week.
Average PPGI prices in the local Chinese market are presented in the following table:
Specification (mm) |
Category |
Average price (RMB/mt) |
Weekly change (RMB/mt) |
Price ($/mt) |
Weekly change ($/mt) |
0.476 x 1,000 |
CGCC |
6,070 |
-57 |
881 |
-8 |
0.426 x 1,000 |
CGCC |
6,130 |
-57 |
890 |
-8 |
13 percent VAT is included in all prices and all prices are ex-warehouse.
During the given week, PPGI prices in the Chinese domestic market have moved down amid the decreasing trend of HRC futures prices. The rainy weather as well as the Tomb-Sweeping Day holiday exerted a negative impact on PPGI prices. Since demand has not improved to the level that market players had expected, consumption of PPGI slowed down, resulting in declining capacity utilization rates on the producers’ side and increasing inventory levels. However, PPGI producers have been willing to bolster their offer prices amid the support from the relatively high levels of raw material prices. As the weather will improve, demand for PPGI will likely pick up. It is expected that PPGI prices in the Chinese domestic market will fluctuate within a limited range in the coming week.
As of April 7, HRC futures prices at Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) are standing at RMB 4,072/mt ($592/mt), down RMB 155/mt ($22.5/mt) or 3.7 percent from RMB 4,227/mt on March 31. (the main futures contract has shifted to hc2310)
$1 = RMB 6.8717.
