Ex-China CRC prices have indicated further increases in the past week supported by better sentiments locally, though HRC futures prices have been moving down this week.
At present, export offers for CRC given by major Chinese mills are at around $665-685/mt FOB on average, for January shipment, moving up by $12.5/mt on average from the previous week. Meanwhile, while offers from mills have increased sharply, the tradable level of ex-China CRC offer prices has been heard at $650-655/mt FOB, up by $3.5/mt week on week.
During the given week, CRC prices in the Chinese domestic market have seen slight rises amid rising raw material prices. Recently, fewer CRC supplies have been arriving in the spot market, resulting in supply shortages in the market, which has bolstered prices to a certain degree. Inventory of CRC has been at relatively low levels, exerting a positive impact on prices. However, demand from downstream users has been slack, which weakens the support for CRC prices. It is expected that CRC prices in the Chinese domestic market will likely move sideways in the coming week, while prices may be firmer in southern China than in northern China.
Average domestic 1.0 mm cold rolled coil spot prices in China are at RMB 4,344/mt ($612/mt) ex-warehouse, increasing by RMB 7/mt ($1/mt) compared to November 22, according to SteelOrbis’ information.
As of November 29, HRC futures at the Shanghai Futures Exchange are standing at RMB 4,006/mt ($564/mt), decreasing by RMB 53/mt ($8.3/mt) or down by 1.3 percent since November 22.
$1 = RMB 7.1031