Ex-China cold rolled coil (CRC) prices have moved sideways over the past week amid slight increases in HRC futures prices, while cautious sentiments have still prevailed among market players.
More specifically, ex-China CRC offer prices from mills have been at $545-560/mt FOB this week, while the tradable levels for ex-China CRC have been heard at $540-545/mt FOB, moving sideways compared to last week.
During the given week, HRC futures prices have moved on an uptrend, exerting a positive impact on CRC prices. CRC producers’ capacity utilization rates have declined slightly over the past week, bolstering CRC prices from the supply side. However, the inventories of CRC have risen, signaling that demand has not seen an improvement yet in the traditional peak season. On September 10, major Chinese steelmaker Baosteel announced stable CRC prices stable for delivery in October, providing support for prices in the spot market. Recently, iron ore prices have indicated increases, positively affecting CRC prices from the cost side. The future trend of CRC prices is expected to depend on the release of demand in the coming period.
Average domestic 1.0 mm cold rolled coil spot prices in China are at RMB 3,537/mt ($498/mt) ex-warehouse, decreasing by RMB 6/mt ($0.8/mt) week on week, according to SteelOrbis’ information.
As of September 10, HRC futures at Shanghai Futures Exchange are standing at RMB 3,342/mt ($471/mt), increasing by RMB 43/mt ($6.0/mt) or 1.3 percent since September 3, while declining by 0.39 percent compared to the previous trading day, September 9.
$1 = RMB 7.1062
