During the week ending January 9, average prices of pre-painted galvanized iron (PPGI) in the Chinese domestic market have edged down slightly compared to December 26, while transaction activity in the domestic market has been at low-to-medium levels.
Offer prices of ex-China PPGI have been heard at $565-595/mt, moving up by $10/mt on average compared to December 26.
Average PPGI prices in the local Chinese market are presented in the following table.
| Specification (mm) | Category | Average price (RMB/mt) | Weekly change (RMB/mt) | Price ($/mt) |
Weekly change ($/mt) |
| 0.476 x 1,000 | CGCC | 4,730 | -10 | 674 | - |
| 0.426 x 1,000 | CGCC | 4,890 | -10 | 696 | - |
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 edged down slightly amid relatively high inventories. Major Chinese steelmaker Baosteel has kept its offer prices for PPGI stable for delivery in February, bolstering prices to a certain degree. However, demand for PPGI has been sluggish during the traditional cold winter offseason, exerting a negative impact on prices. It is expected that PPGI prices in the Chinese domestic may soften in the coming week.
As of January 9, HRC futures at Shanghai Futures Exchange are standing at RMB 3,294/mt ($469/mt), increasing by RMB 11/mt ($1.6/mt) or 0.3 percent since December 26, while declining by 1.02 percent compared to the previous trading day, January 8.
$1 = RMB 7.0128
