Over the past week, the Chinese pre-painted galvanized iron (PPGI) market has followed a stable trend, with market prices unchanged compared with the previous week. As of May 20, the average sales prices of PPGI in the main Chinese cities are as follows:
Product name |
Specification |
Category |
Average price (RMB/mt) |
Weekly change (RMB/mt) |
Price ($/mt) |
Weekly change ($/mt) |
PPGI |
0.476 mm x 1,000 mm |
CGCC |
6,700 |
0 |
1,026 |
0 |
PPGI |
0.426 mm x 1,000 mm |
CGCC |
7,293 |
0 |
1,117 |
0 |
At present, CGCC 0.476 mm x 1,000 mm PPGI is sold in the Shanghai, Guangzhou and Boxing markets at RMB 6,630/mt ($1,015/mt), RMB 7,000/mt ($1,072/mt) and RMB 6,470/mt ($991/mt) respectively. At the same time, CGCC 0.426 mm x 1,000 mm PPGI prices stand at RMB 6,730/mt ($1,031/mt), RMB 7,050/mt ($1,080/mt) and RMB 8,100/mt ($1,240/mt) in the above respective markets. All prices include 17 percent VAT ($1 = RMB 6.53).
In the past week, transaction activities in the Chinese PPGI market have been sluggish. Traders indicate that the current market inventory is not sufficient and that demand from the downstream market is weak due to the lack of availability of funds and the government's restrictions on the real estate sector.
On the mills' side, prices of PPGI have indicated some softening, but upstream cold rolled product prices have maintained their high price levels, and so the margins of PPGI producers have shrunk. On the other hand, although China's PPGI export volume in April was large, but most of the exported products were of certain specifications and were sold at lower prices, and so the profits in question were rather thin. Meanwhile, traders point to the current insufficient market inventories of PPGI as constituting a positive factor for the domestic market.
For the coming week, however, it is thought that China's PPGI market may indicate signs of weakness.