Ex-China CRC prices have seen slight decreases over the past week, following sharp drops last week, as demand is still limited and the local market has provided little support to exporters.
At present, export offers for CRC given by major Chinese mills are at $660-665/mt FOB for September shipment, edging down by $2.5/mt compared to July 20.
The tradable level of ex-China CRC is at $650/mt FOB at the highest, moving down from $650-660/mt FOB last week. But some sources report small deals done at $640-650/mt FOB over the past week.
“The rebounding trend of HRC futures prices has bolstered CRC prices to some extent,” an international trader told SteelOrbis, adding that, however, demand in the domestic market has not improved, providing sellers with little room for raising prices.
During the given week, CRC prices in the Chinese domestic market have indicated slight declines amid still slack demand from downstream users, even though transaction activities have seen certain improvements compared to the week before. The declining inventory levels and rebounding HRC futures prices have bolstered the CRC market to some extent, preventing the market from recording a further rapid fall. It is thought that CRC prices in the Chinese domestic market will likely fluctuate within a limited range in the coming week.
Average domestic 1.0 mm cold rolled coil spot prices in China are at RMB 4,260/mt ($629/mt) ex-warehouse, moving down by RMB 16/mt ($2.4/mt) compared to July 20, according to SteelOrbis’ information.
As of July 27, HRC futures at the Shanghai Futures Exchange are standing at RMB 3,874/mt ($572/mt), decreasing by RMB 53/mt ($7.8/mt) or 1.4 percent since July 20.
$1 = RMB 6.7731