Ex-China CRC prices have moved down sharply compared to the previous week amid the decreasing trend in local and futures HRC prices.
At present, export offers for CRC given by major Chinese mills are at $660/mt FOB for June shipment, moving down by $40/mt compared to April 19.
The tradable level of ex-China CRC offer prices has been heard at $650/mt FOB, also decreasing by $40/mt compared to last week. “The declining HRC futures prices have exerted a negative impact on the CRC market, while the slack demand from downstream users has weakened the support for CRC prices, and demand is unlikely to improve in the near future, also negatively affecting the CRC market,” an international trader told SteelOrbis.
During the given week, CRC prices in the Chinese domestic market have moved down sharply amid the prevailing bearish sentiments among market players, while inventory levels of CRC have increased slightly. Demand from the manufacturing industry and the real estate industry has not been good, weakening consumers’ motivation. The imbalance between supply and demand in the CRC market has gradually increased. At the same time, demand will unlikely improve due to the approaching Labor Day holiday (April 29-May 3). CRC producers are expected to implement production cuts to ease the supply pressure. At the same time, according to market insiders, CRC prices in the Chinese domestic market will indicate a fluctuating trend in the coming week, though they will likely bottom up following the holiday.
Average domestic 1.0 mm cold rolled coil spot prices in China are at RMB 4,310/mt ($623/mt) ex-warehouse, moving down by RMB 193/mt ($28/mt) compared to April 19, according to SteelOrbis’ information.
As of April 26, HRC futures at the Shanghai Futures Exchange are standing at RMB 3,771/mt ($545/mt), decreasing by RMB 238/mt ($34.4/mt) or moving down by 5.94 percent since April 19.
$1 = RMB 6.9237
