Ex-China HRC offer prices have moved up further amid the appreciation of the Chinese currency, relatively low inventories and the uptrend seen in Southeast Asia. At the same time, sentiment in the local market in China has been cautious and prices have not changed much since last week.
At present, export offers for boron-added SS400 HRC given by major Chinese mills are at $485-500/mt FOB for late September shipment, moving up by $10/mt on average compared to last week, following a rising trend seen in the previous week.
A small volume of ex-China HRS was sold at $480/mt FOB last week and sources said that the tradable value for HRC for sellers should be at $475-480/mt FOB.
In Vietnam, customers have bought ex-India HRC at $470-480/mt CFR over the past week and have started to receive offers from India at $480-485/mt CFR Vietnam, which is still lower than offers from China and other sellers.
During the given week, the supply shortage of HRC in the domestic market in China has eased to some extent, while demand has not seen any significant improvement. Currently, relatively low inventory and the high level of iron ore prices are supporting HRC prices.
Domestic HRC prices in China are at RMB 3,850-3,920/mt ($551-561/mt) ex-warehouse on July 28, with the average price level RMB 15/mt ($2.1/mt) higher as compared to July 21, according to SteelOrbis’ data.
As of July 28, HRC futures at the Shanghai Future Exchange are standing at RMB 3,749/mt ($536/mt), decreasing by RMB 38/mt ($5.4/mt) or 1.0 percent since July 21.
$1 = RMB 6.9895
