Ex-China cold rolled coil (CRC) prices have moved sideways over the past week.
At present, export offers for CRC from China are in a range of around $545-555/mt FOB, for September shipment, moving sideways on average week on week. Meanwhile, the tradable levels for ex-China CRC have been heard at $540-550mt FOB, the same as last week.
During the given week, the average CRC prices in the Chinese domestic market have edged down slightly amid slightly increased capacity utilization rates and outputs. Inventory of CRC has increased, exerting a negative impact on prices. HRC futures prices have edged down, weakening the support for CRC prices to a certain degree. However, prices of raw materials, including coking coal and coke, have moved up, which will bolster CRC prices from the cost side. It is expected that CRC prices in the Chinese domestic market will fluctuate within a limited range in the coming week.
Average domestic 1.0 mm cold rolled coil spot prices in China are at RMB 3,617/mt ($507/mt) ex-warehouse, decreasing by RMB 10/mt ($1.4/mt) week on week, according to SteelOrbis’ information.
As of August 7, HRC futures at Shanghai Futures Exchange are standing at RMB 3,440/mt ($482/mt), increasing by RMB 50/mt ($7/mt) or 1.5 percent since July 31, while down 0.35 percent compared to the previous trading day, August 6.
$1 = RMB 7.1345