Ex-China offer prices of cold rolled coil (CRC) have moved sideways in the past week as demand has been stable despite the slight downtrend in local CRC prices.
At present, export offers for CRC given by major Chinese mills are at $820-840/mt FOB for May shipment, moving sideways on average compared to March 10.
Deal prices have been heard at $810-820/mt FOB for sales to Southeast Asia, the Middle East and South America, stable compared to last week after a slight increase.
“Ferrous metal futures prices moved up first, while indicating a downtrend later, resulting in caution among market players, while exporters have mostly kept their offer prices stable,” an international trader told SteelOrbis.
During the given week, domestic CRC prices have edged down amid the ups and downs in HRC futures prices and slack demand from downstream users. Cautious sentiments have prevailed among market players. Inventory of CRC increased slightly, but is at a relatively low level.
Average domestic 1.0 mm cold rolled coil spot prices in China are at RMB 5,586/mt ($859/mt) ex-warehouse, moving down by RMB 10/mt ($1.5/mt) compared to March 10, according to SteelOrbis’ information.
As of March 17, HRC futures at the Shanghai Futures Exchange are standing at RMB 4,984/mt ($767mt), increasing by RMB 166/mt ($25.5/mt) or 3.45 percent since March 10.
$1 = RMB 6.4978
