Ex-China cold rolled coil (CRC) prices have moved sideways over the past week as the long holiday is about to get underway.
More specifically, ex-China CRC offer prices from mills have been at $530-550/mt FOB this week, remaining stable week on week, while the tradable levels for ex-China CRC have remained at $525-530/mt FOB.
During the given week, CRC prices in the Chinese domestic market have remained unchanged amid the shrinking demand from downstream users. Most sellers have chosen to sell and reduce inventories, aiming to ease supply pressure in the period after the long Chinese New Year holiday (February 14-23). Speculative demand in the market has been gradually stagnating, exerting a negative impact on the CRC market. It is expected that CRC prices in the Chinese domestic market will remain stable in the coming period.
Average domestic 1.0 mm cold rolled coil spot prices in China are at RMB 3,497/mt ($503/mt) ex-warehouse, moving sideways week on week, according to SteelOrbis’ information.
As of February 11, HRC futures at Shanghai Futures Exchange are standing at RMB 3,228/mt ($464/mt), decreasing by RMB 46/mt ($6.6/mt) or 1.4 percent since February 4, while increasing by 0.06 percent compared to the previous trading day, February 10.
$1 = RMB 6.9438
