Ex-China CRC prices have continued their downtrend over the past week, also accelerating amid the sharp drops in the local market and HRC futures prices.
At present, export offers for CRC given by major Chinese mills are at $760-765/mt FOB for August shipment, moving down by $50/mt compared to June 15.
The tradable level of ex-China CRC offer prices is at $750/mt FOB, falling by $55/mt on average from last week. Buyers have been cautious in such a rapidly falling market, waiting for further declines and seeing big price drops in the HRC segment.
“Demand did not improve as quickly as market players expected, exerting a negative impact on market sentiments. In the traditional summer off-season, demand will unlikely see big improvements, which will negatively affect 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. HRC futures prices have indicated an overall downtrend, exerting a negative impact on the CRC market. At the same time, iron ore prices have edged down, also weakening the support for CRC prices on the cost side. It is thought that CRC prices in the Chinese domestic market will likely move sideways in the coming week or they could soften further, but at a slower pace.
Average domestic 1.0 mm cold rolled coil spot prices in China are at RMB 4,850/mt ($723/mt) ex-warehouse, moving down by RMB 413/mt ($61.5/mt) compared to June 15, according to SteelOrbis’ information.
As of June 22, HRC futures at the Shanghai Futures Exchange are standing at RMB 4,195/mt ($625/mt), decreasing by RMB 458/mt ($68.3/mt) or 9.8 percent since June 15.
$1 = RMB 6.7109