During the week ending October 29, Chinese hot rolled coil (HRC) export offers have moved sideways compared to that recorded on October 22. At present, export offers for boron-added SS400 HRC given by Chinese mills are at $425-455/mt FOB for December shipment. At the same time, offers from other major HRC exporters in Asia have continued to go down. Deals for ex-India HRC have been concluded at $408-410/mt CFR Vietnam last week.
Moreover, taking into account that local HRC prices in China have remained higher than quotations in the international market, traders have continued to be interested in importing commercial material and have been looking for firm offers. Some sources say that China will be buying some volumes from abroad in the coming quarter at least. “Lower-priced HRC offers from South Korea and India have been heard in China, negatively affecting market players’ sentiments,” an international trader told SteelOrbis. As it was reported earlier, a batch of Korean HRC has been sold at $420-425/mt CFR China and Indian coils have been traded at $410-415/mt CFR China earlier in October.
HRC prices in the local Chinese market have edged up slightly due to decline in HRC output amid lower capacity utilization rate and rises seen in HRC futures prices. During the past week, domestic HRC prices in China have increased to RMB 3,510-3,620/mt ($496-512/mt) ex-warehouse, with the average price level RMB 10/mt higher as compared to October 22. Meanwhile, HRC futures prices at Shanghai Futures Exchange in China have risen by RMB 46/mt, or 1.4 percent on October 29 compared to October 22, to RMB 3,359/mt ($475/mt).
$1= RMB 7.063