Ex-China cold rolled coil (CRC) prices have fallen amid the rapid spread of the coronavirus worldwide which has negatively affected demand from overseas buyers.
At present, export offers for CRC given by major Chinese mills are at $505/mt FOB for late May delivery, down by $7.5/mt on average compared to March 11. However, deals have been heard at $495-500/mt FOB to Southeast Asia and South America.
During the given week, though downstream users have resumed production, they have been consumed their relatively high levels of inventories first and so have not been active in concluding purchases of CRC. At the same time, the resumption of production in the auto vehicle industry has not run smoothly as the industry chain has been impacted by the coronavirus, exerting a negative impact on the CRC market. Meanwhile, the rapid spread of the coronavirus worldwide has negatively affected market players’ sentiments.
Average domestic 1.0 mm cold rolled coil spot prices in China are at RMB 4,076/mt ($579.6/mt) ex-warehouse, down RMB 27/mt ($3.8/mt) compared to March 11, according to SteelOrbis’ information.
As of March 18, HRC futures at the Shanghai Future Exchange are standing at RMB 3,466/mt ($492.8/mt), decreasing by RMB 18/mt ($2.6/mt) or 0.5 percent since March 11.
$1 = RMB 7.0328
