In the week ending June 30, average hot rolled coil (HRC) prices in the Chinese domestic market have continued their downward movement, while transaction activity in the overall market has remained slack. Average HRC prices in the local Chinese market are presented in the following table.
During the given week, local HRC traders have seen slack transaction activity, with even big traders only concluding transactions for several hundred metric tons per day, and so traders have lowered their sales prices in order to stimulate activity. Last weekend, the Chinese central bank cut its benchmark interest rate by 0.25 percentage points, but this has not improved sentiment in the local HRC market, with market players still remaining pessimistic. Meanwhile, declining iron ore prices will weaken support for finished steel prices. It is expected that HRC prices in the Chinese domestic market will continue their downtrend in the coming week.
Product name |
Spec. |
Category |
City |
Steel plant/origin |
Price (RMB/mt) |
Price ($/mt) |
Weekly change (RMB/mt) |
Medium HRC |
5.75 mm x 1,500 mm x C |
Q235B/SS400 |
Shanghai |
Tangshan Steel |
2,170 |
350 |
↓120 |
Tianjin |
Tangshan Steel |
2,120 |
342 |
↓120 |
|||
Lecong |
Liuzhou Steel |
2,250 |
363 |
↓80 |
|||
Average |
- |
2,180 |
352 |
↓107 |
|||
Thin HRC |
2.75 mm x 1.,250 mm x C |
Q235B |
Shanghai |
Tangshan Steel |
2,260 |
365 |
↓50 |
Tianjin |
Tangshan Steel |
2,570 |
415 |
↓20 |
|||
Lecong |
Lianyuan Steel |
2,390 |
385 |
↓40 |
|||
Average |
- |
2,407 |
388 |
↓37 |
17 percent VAT is included in all prices and all prices are ex-warehouse.
$1 = RMB 6.20